Envythorn: Thanks!!! You're so sweet Freddie is incredibly loyal, where Sam is "vicious". So loyal Freddie would question something as menial to anyone else (i.e. holding hands) and even think about the other person involved, even if they don't care about him (stupid Sam)...

Thanks Darcii, Le Mondain, TiffanyM, imaginexanything, Crushed under love and FPJ.

A/N: The ever so loyal Freddie keeps making excuses for their actions...

Freddie fell asleep quite comfortably as he rested through to the next day. He and Sam held hands almost all the way to get smoothies, and didn't feel weird about it at all. They were just friends. Who held hands. It was their thing. All friends had a thing, right?

It was kinda weird that he wouldn't let Carly hold his hand, but it was his and Sam's thing. A perfectly natural thing that friends could have… or that they can do when they're not fighting.

The same type of self-justifications echoed in Freddie's mind until Sam was sitting next to him on the couch again until he realized it.

This was Sam. He wasn't supposed to have a thing like that with Sam (of all people!).

"You want to play a game?"

"What sort of game?"

"Knock the dweeb off the couch." She grabbed a cushion and began hitting. He couldn't believe he just fell for that. His mom came in just as he was getting pummeled.

"It's ok mom. We're just playing a game." He offered his mom a smile to let her know that he was ok.

Sam offered his mom the cushion. "Want to play? I'll give you a free hit."

"Are you two studying enough?"

"We're just taking a little break." Freddie silently indicated for Sam to play along and not get him in an agonizingly embarrassing amount of trouble.

"In fact the break is over" Sam finished. Freddie was dumbfounded. She was playing along. She was actually playing along. "But Freddie did say he was going to get me a soda." OK. She wasn't playing along; she was just trying to score free drinks. But it was good enough for him.

Freddie got up. "Yeah, I was."

"Well make sure you tick off your homework chart" his mom waved the chart in front of him, Sam snatched it.

"Yes mom."

Freddie came back with the soda and handed over the can, but when their fingers brushed both of them took their hands away from each others and the can, letting it fall to the floor. They both bent down to pick it up simultaneously and ended up bumping heads, to which Sam when upright pushed Freddie and sent him sprawling to the floor. She picked up the can herself smugly smiling at Freddie, and feeling a stab of sympathy (and ridiculousness at all of a sudden having to purposely stop themselves from holding one another's hands) Sam reached out her hand which Freddie sheepishly grabbed and helped himself up with… and didn't let go of as they both sat on the couch next to each other and stopped wondering why they found it necessary to be so close to one another.

She wriggled her fingers in between his and handed him the soda. He looked at her quizzically.

"Open it."

He sighed and took his hand back, giving her the open soda. She sipped on it, reaching down to grab his hand again.

Stop Sam from doing questionable things to Freddie! Press the button now!