Title: Grow Up
Fandom: iCarly
Pairing: Freddie/Sam
Prompt: 07. Prove it.
Words: 970
Rating: PG.

Summary: They say girls grow up faster than boys.

"Just stay away from me, Sam!" Freddie shouted behind him as he rounded a corner and emerged into Ridgeway's main hall. At that instant, the eyes of every member of the student body and several members of the faculty suddenly turned up to fix on him, the usual afternoon chatter going silent.

Any other day, Freddie wouldn't have been caught dead making a scene this big out in public. Any other day, Freddie would have been conscious of the hordes of eyes staring at him, as though boring into the depths of his very soul.

But today wasn't any other day. So Freddie took half a moment to take a deep breath, tightened his grip on his backpack strap over his shoulder, ducked his head and began ploughing through the crowd.

"Freddie, wait!" Sam said as she appeared around the same corner, a little out of breath.

"No way, Sam," Freddie shouted back, not even turning his head and beginning to pick up speed.

Sam sighed to herself and rolled her eyes, taking off after him. She was the faster runner, and he had the heavier backpack, so she easily caught him after a quick pursuit. Catching him by the arm, she pulled him aside, down another hall branching off the main one. Throwing him somewhat unceremoniously against a patch of bare wall between two cabinets of lockers, Sam pinned him down by his shoulders against the brick.

Freddie struggled against her for a moment, but soon found it to be no use. "Let me go," Freddie said flatly.

"Why are you so mad?" Sam asked.

"I told you," he said. "I've had it with you and your little pranks."

"Oh, lighten up! It was just a joke! Get over it, already."

"Get over it?" Freddie said, irate. "How do you expect me to just get over it when you are constantly tormenting me?"

"You know I don't mean any of that stuff," she said, almost pleading. "You know I'm only joking."

"Then find someone else to joke on, will you? I'm sick of it."

"What? You want me to say I'm sorry? OK. Fine. I'm sorry. There, I said it. Can we move on now?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Maybe you're sorry now. That's just because you don't want me mad at you anymore. but what about tomorrow? What about next week? Why should I even think you're even--"

But before he had the chance to finish, Sam had leaned in against him and pressed her mouth into his. Freddie couldn't help but flush a brilliant, beet red as he felt the pressure of Sam's body against him and the warmth of her lips on his.

The moment was over before Freddie even had a chance to fully process what had just happened. Before he knew it, Sam had already broken off, and his cheeks were hot and his breath a little short.

"What the heck was that?" he blurted out, regaining his focus and forcefully pushing her away.

For a moment, Sam didn't respond but only looked dead into the infuriated and utterly bewildered expression on Freddie's face. But after a few seconds had passed, Sam simply took a step back, lifting her hands to let him up, and raised the back of one hand to her mouth, dragging the fingers roughly across her lips. Taking another step back, she turned her head to one side and spat onto the pavement.

"Grow up," she said, waving her hand dismissively as she began to leave.

Freddie watched as she turned her back and began to walk down the hall. He wanted to let her go, wanted to finally be left alone. But for some reason, he couldn't. Maybe the shock of the moment had made him delirious and he wasn't thinking straight. Maybe he still wanted a proper explanation and didn't want to miss this chance to squeeze one out of Sam. Maybe it was the lingering taste of her cherry chapstick on his lips, the vanishing scent of her skin in his nose, or the faint ache his body felt at the absence of hers. For whatever reason, Freddie pushed himself quickly off the wall and ran after her, catching her by the arm and stopping her suddenly.

"Hey, wait," he said as she turned around. Standing face to face, Freddie felt that he was somehow seeing Sam, really seeing her for who she was under all the taunting and torturing, for the first time. The slight tinge of red in her normally pale cheeks brought out the clear blue of her eyes, while the soft play of the afternoon light through her hair gave her a gentle, subtle glow.

"What?" Sam said, simply.

A moment of silence fell as Freddie met her eyes, a look of tenuous understanding in his own. He carefully closed the distance, coming within half a step of her.

"I-- uh..." he began, hesitating. But the words wouldn't come; and as he edged closer to Sam, it became increasingly harder for him to even form complete thoughts. The entire school seemed to have fallen silent, and Freddie could her his breathing in his ears and feel his heart racing in his chest.

Freddie found himself leaning forward, slowly, his body apparently no longer under his control. And as his lips finally met hers, Freddie couldn't help but boggle at the sheer impossibility of the situation. How impossible it was that he could feel this way for anyone but Carly. How impossible it was that that person was Sam, of all people. How impossible it was that he couldn't even remember why he'd been mad at her.

But none of that mattered. The only thing Freddie cared to think about was how impossibly happy he felt, how impossibly right this moment felt right now.