Oddities

Author: Carla, aka cali-chan
Rating: PG.
Genre: Romance, WaFF, some humor.
Pairings: Freddie/Sam.
Canon/timeline: Post-series, I guess. Or at least I hope. Kind of an unofficial sequel to my first fic Boyshorts... well, as unofficial as it can get coming from the authoress herself.

Summary: They were just odd, Carly decided. Her two best friends were odd people.

.

.

They were just odd, Carly decided. Her two best friends were odd people.

Don't get her wrong; she was happy they'd fallen in love. She knew more than anyone else they cared very deeply for each other, under all the insults and the bickering. They were better together, in their own way. Gone were the days when they were openly hostile to each other. They still argued all the time, of course, but it wasn't as bad as it had been at the beginning. There was something there, an undertone of comfort and familiarity that made it seem better.

For Carly, it made complete sense. It was also absolutely crazy.

Like now, for example. Both of them were hanging out in her apartment, as they always did. Her and Sam were on the couch, watching an episode of Girly Cow. Well, she was; Sam had gotten bored midway through and had turned around, laying her torso on the seat, with her thighs against the backrest and her feet hanging off the back, and proceeded to try and stick as many stamps as she could to the ceiling by throwing them up with a penny.

Freddie was behind them, sitting on the stairs with two new pieces of equipment he was working on. He was very much in the zone as he tinkered with the electronic devices, so much that he wasn't bothered by the sound of the television or the ping Sam's penny made when it hit the ceiling. He was completely focused on the task at hand... at least until Sam decided the ceiling wasn't responsive enough for her taste and thought it would be much more fun to just lob the thing straight at Freddie's head.

The argument that ensued had Carly itching to put them both on a timeout. She was just about to send each of them to a separate corner of the apartment when Freddie decided he'd had enough abuse for the moment and took his presence and his business to the kitchen table instead. Not entirely out of Sam's throwing reach if she really tried, but she'd have to get off the couch to do that, and he knew she was too comfortable to take that option.

"Yeah, run away, Freddweeb!" were the bulk of the blonde's oh-so-sweet parting words for her boyfriend.

Carly sighed. "Why do you have to insult him?"

Sam shrugged- well, as best as she could in her current position. "He annoys me."

"But you guys are dating!"

Sam could not be more unconcerned if she tried. "What? Just because he has good taste doesn't mean he's not stupid!" she explained, defensively.

"I love you too, Sam!" came Freddie's voice from the kitchen, each word dripping with sarcasm.

Even Sam had to chuckle at that one. Carly shook her head as she laughed. She honestly had no clue how this relationship worked, but somehow it did. She'd once asked them, separately, why they were together. Freddie seemed much on the same page as her: "Uh... actually, I really don't know." Sam, on the other hand, had been more straight-forward in her reply: "Because he buys me meat." (And it was true. Most of their very few actual dates consisted of them going out to eat at a steakhouse of some sort. Carly had the slight suspicion Freddie was getting sick of the taste of beef).

She'd be lying if she wasn't somewhat worried, though. They'd already broken up and gotten back together like seventeen times since they started dating (okay, okay, three or four. So she was a little prone to exaggeration, alright? Most people thought it was adorable), and yet here they were, Senior year almost over, making plans to live together in Boston (Freddie was going to Emerson to study Media Production, and Sam... well, they were still working on Sam). And while their fight-and-make-up routine was all well and good for their friendship, when there are deeper feelings involved, the person you care for the most is also the one who has the most power to hurt you.

She sighed again, noticing that Sam had produced another penny, apparently out of thin air, and was again throwing stamps at the ceiling. "But seriously, Sam," she started, now feeling somewhat awkward. "Don't you think you guys should start treating each other better? I mean, it was all cute and entertaining before-"

"Entertaining? For whom?" came Freddie's almost indignant exclamation.

Carly ignored the comment. "It just boggles my mind that it doesn't bother you when you say all these hurtful things to each other. You're in a relationship; it's not a game, you guys."

Sam turned her head to look at her brunette best friend. "What's up? What brought this on?" she asked, somewhat curious, and somewhat concerned at Carly's sudden gravity. As far as they knew, she was alright with their relationship. So what was it with the sudden doubts?

Carly hesitated for two seconds, then relented. She knew they would start feeling bad if they thought they'd upset her, so she might as well just come clean. "I'm just... a little worried. You two are my best friends. I don't want you guys to get hurt, especially if I'm not around to mediate."

"Aw, Carls," Sam said, moving to her side so she could reacommodate herself properly on the couch. "Look, it's not a game, alright? It's just us, it's the way we operate. We wouldn't know how to act any other way, so we fight, we prank each other, we hit each other-"

"Well, mostly it's you hitting him," Carly corrected her, ever-so-helpful.

"But he's my favorite person to pick on because he's my favorite person, get it?" she clarified, sounding like that made everything better. To her it did, at least. Surely the big grin she was sporting meant she had no regrets about the way they "operated." "Besides, you know how stubborn we are. We've put up with each other all this time; I'm afraid we're stuck together for the long run."

"Oh, yay," came Freddie's cynical interjection from the kitchen.

Carly was amused; for someone who had just "run away" from them, he sure seemed very interested in their conversation. She laughed. "You're a bad influence on him," she said, pointing a finger at Sam, accusingly. The blonde was quick to reply that yes, she was, but in the dork's case that was a good thing. The best friend rolled her eyes, but then had to smile. Luckily, she loved them both just the way they were. "Alright, we'll leave it at that. It's just... sometimes I just wish you guys could be a little more... normal. That way I wouldn't have to worry," she finished, sounding resigned.

Sam ruffled Carly's hair. "Well, don't you worry your pretty little head about us, alright? We're good. We'll be fine," she affirmed, her tone leaving no room for arguments. She got off the couch and in the direction of the kitchen- or more accurately, their fridge.

"How do you know?" Carly asked as Sam moved, and she paused in her step, looking back at her best friend.

"Because I love him," Sam stated with a shrug, as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe.

Carly had never heard her say those words about Freddie before. About ham, pie and other assorted food items, sure... but not Freddie. And the pair had been dating for almost a year, so needless to say, she was a little stunned. "Wow. That easy?"

"It's never easy!" Freddie intervened again, almost in a groan.

Since Sam was on a trek toward the closest food products, she took a moment to give her boyfriend a slap to the back of his head when she passed by him. "That's because you're a pansy, Benson," she commented, dryly. Carly heard Freddie huff and Sam laugh, triumphant.

The brunette raised herself a little to look at them over the kitchen counter where their desktop computer was. She saw Freddie softly rubbing at the back of his neck... but then he smiled to himself and turned to look at Sam- or Sam's back as she was currently half crawling into the refrigerator- and Carly felt herself grow warm inside. Aw, they really loved each other... in their own weird, complicated, dysfunctional way.

So yeah, they were very odd. They were an odd pair. But maybe "normal" was overrated.

Fleetingly, she wondered what that said about her, that she was friends with these two crazies. And she decided that, weird or not, she was all the better for it.

.

.

Author's note!: If you liked this, please go read my other Freddie/Sam fic, Boyshorts. It's so much better than this one. xD