AN-This is loosely based off an episode of Friends.

..

Improvement

"We need more channels," Sam said to her boyfriend as she sat on their sofa with him, flipping through the programs.

"Baby, we have three hundred," Freddie replied, not looking up from his magazine. "I'm sure there's something you'd like on one of them."

"No, everything on is stupid," Sam sighed. "It's just the news and really lame T.V. movies and documentaries…I never thought I'd be let down by this thing, but I've got to say, I'm a little disappointed with it right now."

She turned off the T.V. and laid back against Freddie, resting her head on his lap.

"Can I help you?" Freddie smirked, looking down at her.

"Well if I'm not gonna spend tonight watching T.V., I'm just gonna nap," Sam yawned.

"Oh, well then by all means, make me your human pillow."

"You really mind?" Sam grinned.

"Not at all," Freddie chuckled, leaning down to give her a quick peck on her lips. "Hey…you realize we haven't left the apartment all day?"

"Huh, you're right," Sam said. "Wow…good for you; you've finally brought your laziness to my level. I'm proud of you, Fredbag."

"Well thanks," Freddie grinned.

Just then the couple's apartment door opened and Carly walked in.

"Hey, Carls," Sam greeted her best friend.

"Hey," Carly said happily. "Oh my God…I just came back from the most romantic date ever with Andy."

"Really?" Freddie said. "What'd you guys do?"

"We went out on this moonlight fairy ride and then afterwards, he took me to this fancy wine tasting and then we went to get coffee at this adorable little café."

"Wow, nice," Freddie smiled. "Sounds like a real great date."

"Yeah," Carly sighed dreamily. "It really was. You know…I-I've never really felt like this with any other guy. I know Andy and I just started dating a month ago but…I-I really think he could be the one! And-And I know I've said that about some other guys, but-but I really feel something for him. I-I can totally be myself around him, he treats me like a princess…I think I'm in love with him. Like love love."

"Aw, kid!" Sam beamed, sitting up to hug the brunette. "I'm so happy for you!"

"Yeah, you and Andy are perfect together," Freddie nodded in agreement.

"Thanks," Carly said, a lovesick smile still etched on her face. "But hey, what have you guys done today?"

"We've done this," Sam said.

"What? Just sit around the apartment?" Carly frowned.

"Basically," Freddie nodded.

"I didn't even have to put real pants on," Sam said, tugging at her sweats. "It's been a good day."

"Oh…" Carly said. "Well that's…exciting. Um, well anyway, I'm gonna head out; I just wanted to stop by and tell you guys about my amazing date. I'll see you at work tomorrow, Sam."

"Yeah, later," Sam replied.

"Bye," Freddie said. "Tell Andy we said hey."

"I will," Carly promised as she headed out the door.

"Wow, I've never seen Carly so happy," Freddie said as the door closed behind her.

"I know, it looks like she finally found herself a decent boyfriend," Sam said. "Good for her…I was starting to get real sick of having to help her pull off weird schemes to make her seem like somebody she wasn't for a guy. Remember last year when I had to try and help her learn to surf after she told this one lifeguard she was a pro?"

"Oh yeah, that was kind of funny," Freddie chuckled. He glanced at his watch. "It's getting kind of late. And after a long day of sitting around doing nothing with you, I'm beat."

"Same," Sam yawned. "See, I told you keeping up the perfect level of laziness is hard!"

"You were right, I should've never doubted you," Freddie laughed. "I'm completely drained."

"Well hopefully you have enough energy left for one more thing tonight," Sam chuckled, leaning up to kiss him. "Because I know how we can bring this lazy day to the perfect end."

"Sam, I could have just run a marathon, and I'd still have energy left for that," Freddie chuckled, kissing her back.

"Really?" Sam grinned.

"Er…um, don't-don't quote me on that, actually," Freddie said. "I was just trying to help the mood."

….

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Carly said the next morning as she raced into her and Sam's shared office. "Did anybody notice?"

"Mr. Preston came by about half-an-hour ago, but I told him you were in the bathroom," Sam replied.

"Thank you so much, Sam," Carly said, relieved.

"No problem, you cover for me all the time," Sam smiled. "But why are you late? Normally you're here at least ten minutes before me."

"Well," Carly grinned. "After I left your place last night, Andy called me just to make sure I was doing okay. Isn't that sweet? We hadn't even been separated for an hour and he still wants to talk to me! And, well, one thing led to another and I invited him over to my place and he, well, spent the night."
"Ah," Sam nodded knowingly. "Got it."

"I'm just having so much fun with Andy," Carly said, sitting down at her desk. "We can't keep our hands off each other, we're always doing these super cool thing together, when we're apart all we do is think about the other…you remember, don't you? You and Freddie used to have that too."

"Yeah," Sam sighed. "I know exactly what you're-hey! What do you mean we used to have it?"

"You know," Carly shrugged. "Back when you guys first started dating you were the same way; you were this super fun, spontaneous couple. Now you've kind of…mellowed."

"Mellowed?" Sam repeated.

"Yeah, I mean…Sam," Carly said. "You have to admit, you and Freddie don't go on those super over-the-top dates anymore."

"We went to the waterpark last month!"

"Yeah, with Spencer, me, Gibby and T-Bo; it wasn't a date," Carly pointed out.

"Well we, um, we-we went to the Cheesecake Warehouse last week by ourselves!" Sam pointed out.

"Look, it's not a bad thing to not be as exciting of a couple as me and Andy," Carly told her. "All relationships are different. Some are more relaxed than others."

"We are not a relaxed couple!" Sam snapped. "We are every bit as wild and crazy as we were when we first started dating! And I'll prove it! We're all gonna go dancing tonight; you and Andy, me and the nub."

"Well…okay," Carly said. "I'll tell Andy."

"Yeah, you do that!" Sam said, turning back to her work on her desk. "Mellowed out couple…ha!"

….

"Hey Sam," Freddie said as he entered their apartment later that day, hanging up his jacket by the door. "Guess what? I was at the drugstore picking up my allergy prescription, and I found that movie about hippo that we both thought was so funny on DVD there, so I picked it up. I thought we could watch it tonight."
"We can't," Sam said, stepping out wearing a tight, red dress that caused Freddie to stumbled into the coffee table. "We have plans."
"Um…okay, first off…wow," Freddie said, catching his balance. "But second…why are you dressed up and what plans are you talking about? Wait…no, it's not any anniversary…I'm never the one to forget those."

"We're gonna go out dancing with Carly and Andy," Sam said. "So get changed into something less geeky."

"Dancing?" Freddie frowned. "As in at a club? With blasting music and sweaty people."

"Uh-huh," Sam nodded. "We're all going out for drinks first so seriously, get dressed."
"But, um, baby, I-I'm kind of tired," Freddie said. "I had a really long day at work."

"So? Then going to a club will help you relax," Sam said. "But not in a relaxed couple way!"

"Huh?"

"Nothing," Sam said quickly.

"Well, can't-can't we go dancing some other time?" Freddie asked. "And at an earlier hour. It's eight o'clock."

"Do you hear yourself? You sound like an old man!" Sam snapped.

"Sam, we've been dancing before," Freddie said.

"That was years ago, when we first started going out," Sam said. "Just because we've been together for a long time doesn't mean we're still not into that stuff!"
"But Sam, we weren't into," Freddie said. "Remember? We went to the club and left in less than an hour because you couldn't stand so many people bumping into you and I almost puked when I saw how disgusting their bathrooms were!"

"But…come on, we can't prove Carly right!" Sam moaned.
"Right about what?"

"She has this crazy idea that her and Andy are a more exciting couple than we are!" Sam said. "Apparently we've mellowed out."

"Mellowed out? We have not!" Freddie said indignantly.

"Well Carly thinks so," Sam said. "And you know what…she-she might have a point. You remember all that crazy stuff we used to do. We used to stay out until three in the morning doing all sorts of fun chiz. Now all we really do is go get dinner or see a movie and lounge around at home."
"I thought you liked lounging around the house," Freddie said.

"That's not the point!" Sam snapped. "The point is I don't want Carly and Andy thinking we're some lame couple that sits around in our sweatpants all day!"

"Well…I-I guess maybe it wouldn't kill us to try and expand our activities," Freddie said. "I don't want to be seen as boring either."

"So you'll come dancing?"

"Sure, why not," Freddie conceded. "But I am not setting foot in the restrooms. There's not enough sanitizer in the world."

….

"I'm so glad the four of us are all hanging out together," Carly smiled later that evening as they walked down the street to the club. She was hand-in-hand with Andy, and the two hadn't left each other's side the whole night.

"Yeah, well, two fun, spontaneous couples hanging out together just makes sense," Sam said. "I mean what else would we be doing right now? Watching T.V. in our pajamas?"

"Pfft, now that's just ridiculous," Freddie scoffed. "Maybe we'll do that in our sixties."

"You guys are going to love this club," Andy told them. "It's got great music, a killer dance floor-"

"-Plus they always play a ton of couple songs," Carly grinned, leaning up to kiss Andy.

"Can't wait to dance to all of them with you, honey," Andy grinned right back.

Sam and Freddie exchanged glances.

"Nauseating," Sam whispered. "Were we really that flirty when we first started dating?"

"I'd like to think not," Freddie replied as they stepped in front of the club. "Whoa! What's this line for?"
"That's the line to get into the club, silly," Carly chuckled.

"It's wrapped around the building!" Sam exclaimed.

"By the time we get in there it's gonna be eleven!" Freddie added.

"Well that's okay, we can find a way to pass the time," Carly said, looking up at Andy as the couples took their place in line.

"I can entertain myself just staring into your beautiful eyes for hours," Andy replied.

Sam glanced at Freddie. "Yeah…you're eyes aren't gonna keep me entertained for two hours," she said. "Give me your phone. I can at least get some Sugar Slam in."

"Why can't you play on your phone?" Freddie asked.

"I don't have it," Sam raid, rolling her eyes. "Do you see pockets in this dress?"

"Fine," Freddie sighed, handing his Pearphone over.

"Maybe the line will move fast," Sam said, giving him a small smile as Carly and Andy continued to simply gaze lovingly into the other's eyes.

"Hopefully," Freddie sighed.

"Well…I know how much you hate waiting in lines so…how about I switch to the two-player version of this game?" Sam suggested.

"Aw," Freddie smirked. "You're the best."

….

Unfortunately, Sam's hope of the line moving quickly did not prove to be promising, and, just as Freddie had predicted, by the time the four got into the club, it was past eleven.

"Alright! This is place is really on it tonight!" Andy said, putting his arm around Carly.

"What?" Freddie yelled over the blasting music.

"Come on," Carly said, nodding over to the packed dance floor. "Let's go! I think they're going to play our song next, Andy!"

"Yes!" Andy cheered as Carly began leading him to the dance floor.

"We'll meet you back at the bar later!" Carly called over her shoulder.

"Well…what now?" Freddie asked, his ears popping from the loud music.

"Um…I dunno, I guess we can go dance too," Sam said as a swarm of people pushed past them. "Hey! You people need to watch where you're going! Man, now I remember why I hate these places!"

"Well, if we're gonna be an exciting couple again, we'd better get used to it," Freddie yelled over the music. "Even if it costs us our hearing."

"Let's just go get something to drink," Sam said. "We can sit at the bar; my feet are killing me in these-"

Just then a group of girls walked by, and one bumped into Sam and accidently stomped on her foot.

"Ow!" Sam cried, making a lunge for the girl, but Freddie held her back.

"Sam, you can't get into a fight here," he told her.

"Well she trampled my foot!" Sam exclaimed. "Now it hurts even more!"

"Well hopefully those drinks will improve our moods," Freddie said as the couple started towards the bar.

The bar, though, was even more crowded than the entrance, and Sam and Freddie could barely even see the counter, let alone push through to get their drinks.

"Great, these morons blocked off the bar too!" Sam snapped.

"What?" Freddie yelled. "Sorry, I really can't hear with this music! I don't know why they insist on playing it so loud!"

"Let's just dance," Sam sighed.

"Fine," Freddie agreed as he took her hand and headed towards the floor. Before they even took five steps, though, another crowd of people rushed past them, pushing Freddie off his feet and causing him to land hard on the floor.

"You okay?" Sam asked, quickly helping him up to his feet before he was trampled.

"Yeah," Freddie winced.

Sam sighed, looking around the club and then at her boyfriend.

"Dude…come on," she said, nodding over to the exit. "Let's just go."

She led them towards the door and the two stepped out back into the night.

"Sam, what are you doing? We're just gonna have to wait in that line again to get back in!" Freddie said.

"No, because…because we're not going back in," Sam told him.

"Is this about me complaining it was too loud? Because I can take it, baby, don't worry about-"

"No, it's not just you," Sam told him. "I'm miserable in there too. I hate people enough as it is without being crammed into a small space with a million of them."

Freddie chuckled. "Yeah…it is really horrible in there."

"I guess that kind of stuff just…isn't our scene," Sam sighed. "Maybe Carly's right. Maybe…Maybe we have mellowed out."

"Well…look, Sam, maybe that's not exactly a terrible thing," Freddie said. "I mean the two of us can have a great time doing just about any simple thing. We don't need to go out and do crazy, wild things every night or spend two hours just staring into the other's eyes. We-We're used to each other; we're comfortable just doing everyday things together. Yeah, I guess when you first start going out and you're in that honeymoon stage it might be fun to do this clubbing thing and all that other stuff, but eventually you're going to want someone who you can spend the day laying around the house in sweats with without feeling bored."

Sam smiled. "Yeah...that is true. I don't care what anybody says; I'd take a night at home with you, a pizza and cheesy movies than being at this place any day."

"And, come on, it's not like we're boring," Freddie continued. "We're Sam and Freddie for crying out loud! We definitely keep things interesting."

"And we do still go on fun dates," Sam added. "We went on that glass-bottom boat on our anniversary. That was cool."
"Exactly," Freddie nodded. He leaned down and gave her a quick peck. "Listen, I love you. Whether we're here at a club or at home on our couch watching reruns of cop shows."

"I love you too," Sam said back. "Hey…just text Carly and tell her that we bailed. I doubt she'll mind; she's got Andy's eyes to gaze into in there. Let's go home and see if we can salvage the rest of this night."