A/N: Don't yell at me, don't yell at me, I know I have two in-progress fics that haven't been updated. Okay, you can yell at me a little bit.

I've just had zero time to write lately with cramming for exams, and now that all the big important ones are over, I have 4 hours of extra free time per night to myself, so I'll update them soon, if anyone really cares. And I needed to jump on the delayed bandwagon of post-iOMG speculations, but I didn't want to do the standard "he runs after her and kisses her back and tells her he loves her too" spiel. A lot of brilliant continuations have been done on that, but I thought Freddie would be caught in a little more of a difficult situation between his feelings and his senses. So naturally, I brought in Spencer. First fic from Spencer's POV! :D

And thanks to pigwiz for beta'ing this for me! Read her work if you don't, it's magnificent!

Ok, I'll shut up now. On to the story!

Spencer's POV:

I don't think I've ever seen a teenager stay put for so long.

He was hunched over on the steps in the courtyard, burying his forehead in both hands. Like he'd just had his whole world ripped out from right under him and couldn't seem to find solid ground again.

I gave him a minute before I went out to talk to him, poor kid looked lost as hell.

But the expression of utter astonishment and confusion he wore was intensified by the second, and I figured I'd better go talk to him and sort out left from right before his freaking brain hemorrhaged.

I opened the door quietly and stuck my head out.

"Yo, Fredster," I called softly, "s'okay if I come out here for a sec?" He nodded slightly without looking up. I took this as approval, and stepped outside into the cooling autumn air, shutting the door behind me.

A few steps and I was sitting next to him on the stoop, waiting for him to ask.

"Carly sent you to come find me?" Not the question I was looking for, but it was a start.

"Nope."

"So do you know about..."

"Oh, I heard about you guys' little 'fiasco,' I just figured you'd want some quality man to man time to puzzle out what the heck you think just happened."

He was quiet again after that, and I could tell that the poor guy had absolutely no idea what he thought had just went down, and wasn't on his way to figuring it out anytime soon. I gave him a second or two to gather his thoughts. He didn't speak again.

"You know, Freddo," I continued, "I'm here to listen. And I completely respect that you're all confused and stuff, but it would be a lot easier if you tried to tackle some of the talking part."

He sighed audibly and leaned back on the brick wall behind him. I heard him inhale deeply to brace himself before he gave me the question I was fishing for.

"Why do my choices have to be limited to them?" he asked. "Why doesn't it occur to anyone that I might grow up and fall in love with, with... some other girl? Why do I have to choose between my two best friends?" His head slammed back into the brick in his exasperation, and I was surprised it didn't knock him out cold. He's tougher than he looks, but his brain was scrambled into complete helplessness, and I decided that this would be the ideal time for me to pull the therapist card on Freddie. He clearly needed some guidance.

"Why, is that what you think everybody expects you to do?"

"Sort of. Especially the fans, they're obsessed with the idea that I need to end up with one of them. A lot of them want me and Carly to be together, and the ones that don't like me and Carly together decide that Sam is the only other option, and pair me up with her." He huffed.

This kid was lost and frustrated, and in desperate need of some reassurance. I was going to have to forget that I was Carly's brother and Sam's friend for the meantime to be what Freddie needed the most right now. An adult. At least sort of. Because God knows the world of teenagers is just freaking messed up.

I sucked in a breath. "Well, for what it's worth, I don't think that's the way they see it at all." That caught his attention. "Freddie, you and the girls have one of the closest relationships of any friendship I've seen in a while. You're a great guy, and you treat your friends very well, no matter what you have to put up with to make them happy. Not a lot of guys out there would do that, even for their girlfriends." He winced at the g-word, shaking his head a little, waiting for me to go on.

"I think what the fans see is how much your feelings towards the both of them has changed over the years. Heck, four or five years ago you would have been stalking one and declaring war with the other. But you guys aren't those same people anymore. I think the fans see how you've come to care about the both of them so deeply, and..." I searched for the right word, "intimately, that they can't possibly fathom you ending up with anybody else other than either one of them."

I took one last deep breath, "And they can see that what you feel for each one of them, at least at one point, went much deeper than just platonic. It's just up to you to decide if you still feel that way for one of them, and if you're starting to feel that way for the other."

His face looked carved from stone. He stared at the pavement. I was slightly scared that I'd freaked him out to the point of where he would no longer talk to me after that spiel, but (to my relief) he glanced up and answered me.

"Do you think that makes me a terrible person? That I'm not sure what I'm feeling for either one of them?"

I sighed, "No Freddo, I think that you'd be an excellent choice for either of them." I looked him dead in the eye, "Which is why I'm sincerely sorry that it's not going to be my little sister."

He almost fell off the stairs in shock.

And here I was thinking that nothing could surprise him after what just went down...

"Wh-what? You th-you think I'm in lo-that I like Sam?" The poor guy could barely stumble through his words.

"I'm not saying anything, little man. All I'm pointing out is that in this case, actions speak louder than words. Youractions."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean? I'm not the one that kissed Sam!" he urged, almost frantically defensive at that point. I thought he might start hyperventilating.

"It's not so much the fact that you didn't kiss Sam," I said pointedly, "as it is the fact that you let her kiss you."

He blinked.

"Come to think of it, Freddie, there's something that might just speak louder than actions."

I leaned forwards and locked eyes with him again. You know, for emphasis.

"Inaction." I whispered.

Still nothing.
I leaned back and propped myself against the wall. Time to spell it out for him.

"Let me give you some perspective, kid. You might claim to feel a certain way towards somebody, but the way you act towards them will reveal your true feelings. Even if you don't realize it for yourself."

I picked up the random water bottle left on the step next to me and took a sip. I had no idea whose it was, but hey, I'm not a germophobe, and this speech was leaving me parched.

"Such as, for instance, forgetting to feed your goldfish every day, putting off calling that girl back from the donut shop, or, I don't know...say, forgetting to pull back when your archenemy starts kissing you?" I punctuated this statement with a nice little eyebrow raise towards his gaping expression.

"I didn't forget to pull ba-" He clamped a hand over his mouth, eyes as wide as saucers he realized the magnitude of what he had just admitted.

And I'll be damned if this boy hadn't just had the biggest epiphany of his entire sixteen years.

"Exactly. You didn't forget to pull back" I smirked. I had satisfied my purpose. His face was an open book to my expert observant eyes.
I could see the thoughts forming in his brain as it occurred to him... if he hadn't forgotten to pull away, then...why didn't he?

It was time for me to leave him to his own conclusions.

I stood up and brushed off the legs of my pants, beginning to walk back inside, but I stopped and turned back to my confused little adolescent friend on the steps and crouched down to tell him one last thing.

"Hey, it's okay to not understand everything right now, and I know that what you need is some time to ask yourself some of the big questions. But after you've thought about it for a bit, there's a certain blonde demon hurting alone in the science lab, and I think that if you ever want things to get better..." my voice became especially solemn and sincere, "inaction could be one of the worst things for you to do at this point."

And with that I walked back into the building, leaving a very conflicted teenager alone to his thoughts. It was up to Freddo what went on from here, and that's why I forced myself not to run into the science lab as I passed it to comfort Sam. She had already figured out her feelings, I wasn't the one she needed right now, and the shoulder she needed to cry on wasn't mine.

Besides, I had to get back to the gym. Carly was certainly going to grill me on my discussion with Freddie once I let her and Gibby out of the sensory stimulus chamber I locked them in.

I noticed a door was open down the hallway I walked past on my way to the gymnasium, and I caught a glimpse of the main courtyard before I stepped out of view. All the leaves outside were reddening, and you could smell the seasons changing on the gentle breeze that floated in. The world was preparing itself for some rough weather ahead, everything was about to change.

I guess all we can do now is hope for spring.

A/N: I'm not the happiest with the ending, but I'm proud of this overall.

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