hi

i haven't been active on this site for almost two years.

about a month ago, i started rewatching icarly simply for nostalgia purposes, and somehow ended up here again.

i read the stories i used to write and considered deleting them at least one time every sentence, but i'm keeping them up because i had so much fun writing and reading other stories, even though i was probably (definitely) way too young to be on a site like this.

thank you so much for all your kind reviews on my stories, they were appreciated and of course still are.

i don't know how many of you (if any) are still active, but maybe there's someone out there who wants to read a seddie fanfiction in 2023, nearly 11 years since the series ended. if not, i'm happy just to be here and writing.

i've decided to write word prompts, as i definitely don't have the time or creativity to write full stories, so i'll update this when and if the motivation strikes.

sorry for the long introduction to yet another amateur fanfiction. enjoy

*after two years, i still don't own icarly. :(*

FEAR

If there was one thing Sam Puckett rarely experienced, it was fear.

Her peers were a little convinced of the girl's immortality, because really, how often could you throw yourself into life threatening situations and come out bearing not a scratch, no physical evidence of the event at all, and a wide grin like she was proud of the fact that she'd nearly got herself killed but was still alive, because theoretically, as was often pointed out by Freddie, there was no way she should have been able to defeat a six foot, slightly overweight, muscular, fully grown man in a physical dispute.

Freddie, however, had seen things the others hadn't.

He had seen the slight flash of fear in her eyes at a roll of thunder, how she tensed up a minuscule amount before assuming a blank expression.

He knew better than to ask her about it, but surprisingly, one day she brought it up.

She had shown up without any kind of warning at his apartment, hair damp, slightly shivering despite her best efforts.

He removed his headphones, giving her a quizzical look before he heard the blaring rain that had been drowned out by his playlist. If his mother was home and knew he had been listening to music this loud...

"Nice sh-sheets Benson," she muttered, hugging herself in attempt to stop shivering.

He looked down and saw none other than his Galaxy Wars sheets.

"Why are you here?"

"Carly w-wasn't home."

Her blue eyes flashed with sudden fear at the sound of a crash of thunder, arms wrapping tighter around her frame.

Oh.

"Wait here," he spoke.

"W-why, where are y-you going?" her voice suddenly filled with alarm.

"Relax, I'm just going to get some blankets out of the dryer for you. Find something to wear, I don't care what it is, just get out of the damp ones."

"Jeez, okay m-mom."

He rolled his eyes, leaving her in his room. He busied himself for around ten minutes, collecting clean, warm sheets from the dryer and taking extra time to get himself ready for bed to ensure he wouldn't walk in on anything. Even after taking way too long, he knocked before entering his room.

"Come in, nub," she spoke in what seemed to be an attempt at a cutting voice, however it wasn't quite managed.

He entered, to see Sam in his bed, under the covers and everything.

"What took you so long?" she snapped.

"Why are you in my bed?"

"Warm."

Sighing, he decided to let her have the bed, as he could see no valid reason to argue at this time of night, so he just rolled his eyes and began to throw blankets on the floor.

She glared at him, before physically jumping at the sound of a particularly loud and unexpected roll of thunder. Pretending not to see it, firstly to protect her dignity and again avoid a fight at this particularly late hour, he continued to make his nest on the floor.

Seeing what he was doing, she spoke again. "Just get in the bed, fred. You're not going to magically impregnate me if we're in the same bed, if that's what you're scared of."

Debating with himself, he eventually decided to oblige, climbing in beside her. This was no big deal, right? His bed was big enough to comfortably fit two people... and there she was, scooting closer at the sound of another roll of thunder. He couldn't decide if it was a voluntary reaction or not, but his question was answered as she moved away almost immediately, like the touch of his arm against hers had burned her skin. He noted how she didn't go back to her original position of at least two feet away, instead staying at a position that was close, but far enough away to be considered safe.

"So, why are you here again? And don't give me 'Carly's not home', 'cause first, that's not an explanation, and second, I know she is."

He didn't know it was possible to audibly roll your eyes, but he was pretty damn sure that was what Sam had just done.

"Wait."

She turned off the light that had been on beside the bed and let out a breath.

"I don't want you to look at me while I say this," she answered his unasked question.

"Shoot, I guess."

"So I was walking home from the store that I was in to avoid going home, when it started raining. Then, it started thundering. So I got s-scared," she spat out the word, like she was disgusted by it, "and ran back here. I was gonna go into Carly's, but I didn't." she mumbled.

"Why?"

"I never told her I'm scared of thunder, and I guess I respect her opinion of me more than yours, and I know you wouldn't tell anyone because I can..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know you can hurt me."

"Good," she muttered.

A minute of silence passed, before there was yet another roll of thunder accompanied by a flash of lightening illuminating the window, and suddenly Sam's body was pressed up against his. She could feel her head pressed into him, body curled in terror against his side. As an instinct, only an instinct, his arms wrapped around the girl's frame.

"Are you gonna laugh at me?"

Her demeanour was different than when she had last spoken, vulnerability evident in the quiet voice that was so unlike her. Yet, she didn't move from her position, and neither did he.

How could he laugh at that?

"No. Just... why thunderstorms?"

Another moment of silence passed before she began speaking again, and Freddie wondered if she had fallen asleep. She felt fully relaxed, an oddly comforting weight upon him, and he could feel her slowed breaths hitting his neck.

"Keep in mind, I wouldn't be telling you this if it wasn't so late and if we weren't in the dark right now. And you better not make fun of me, or else," she warned.

"I won't, I swear."

"I don't know why I believe you," she mumbled. "When I was younger, maybe three or four, I remember I had this huge fear of thunderstorms. Like, bigger than now. I used to scream and cry every time they came, and eventually my mom got so sick of me that she used to lock me out in the storm, told me to face my fears. Yeah, 'cause that worked," she spat out sarcastically, almost a hint of venom in her tone.

"That's awful," he spoke, genuine horror in his voice.

"Well, wasn't the worst of it," she laughed almost bitterly.

"Anything else you're scared of?"

"I don't think so, unless you wanna unpack all of my psychological problems. Fear of rejection, opening up, inadequacy. Etcetera. All come from mother dearest actually, now that I'm thinking about it," she yawned, and after a pause spoke again. "We shouldn't have conversations after midnight. Actually, we might have to never talk again after this."

He let out a laugh, and a yawn of his own.

"At least you faced one of those fears tonight," he spoke quietly.

"Two," she muttered.

"Two?"

"You didn't reject me. When I told you about this stuff."

There was a long pause, both slowly giving in to sleep.

Another roll of thunder, and she didn't even flinch.

Smiling to himself, he closed his eyes and let sleep envelop him.

A/N i know, the "sam puckett afraid of thunder" trope, when has that ever been used before?

i have not written fanfiction in so long

forgive me for any OOC moments, i try my best i swear

if anyone ever reads this please review, i would love to hear from you guys

will see you soon with another chapter i hope