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After a long week working at the Krusty Krab, it was finally the weekend. For Squidward, the weekend was the time to escape the harsh environment of the Krusty Krab. Working at the cash register was a horrid job. Orders that could last 10 minutes because of low lives not planning their order, the irritating ka-ching of the cash register…
and him.
No matter the time of day, the day of the week, or the month of the year, SpongeBob was always there to ruin Squidward’s peace. He could never escape the annoying squeaking of his shoes, his cute little giggle, those sparkly beautiful eyes-
‘Squiddy what are you doing?! Don’t fantasize over that idiot. Tonight is your night to relax’ he thought as he poured a cup of tea he brewed minutes before.
Squidward went to the living room and sat on the couch, relaxing against the back cushions. With the tea in his hands he grabbed the remote to turn on his favorite show, Fab and Fancy. Usually it would air before 5 am, but a special all about jewel-encrusted mittens was on at 8, which Squidward was very intrigued to watch. He needed something elegant to wear in the winter months. “Oh how sophisticated” he said as a lavish pair of jewel-encrusted mittens were shown. He took a sip of his tea and sighed, sinking into the couch with his mouth widening into a smile. “What could be better than this?”.
While daydreaming about displaying his stylish physique with jewel-encrusted mittens, there was a knock at the door. Squidward sighed and rolled his eyes “there goes my peace” he grumbled, irritated that he was interrupted from his favorite show.
He got up from the couch and approached the door, turning the handle and opening it. “Hi Squidward!” exclaimed a cheerful voice. Squidward looked down and saw his little nightmare of a neighbor, SpongeBob. SpongeBob was wearing his PJs and looking up at him with sparkling ocean eyes. Lost in the starry sea, Squidward wasn’t paying attention to what SpongeBob was saying. All he could see were sapphires “…movie night?”. Squidward shook his head and snapped back to reality. “What did you say?” he asked nervously, hoping SpongeBob didn’t notice his wandering eyes. SpongeBob giggled “I asked if you wanted to have a movie night!” Squidward crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. “SpongeBob, can’t you see that I’m busy?“. “How can you be busy? You’re talking to me right now silly!” Squidward put his hand over his face. “That’s not what I meant” he sighed. “Now can you please leave me alone, the jewel-encrusted mittens are waiting for me.” SpongeBob made a pouty face and put his hands behind his back, rubbing his slipper against the ground. “Pwease Squidward, jwust fwor twonight?” he whimpered up at him. Squidward blushed at the sight of SpongeBob’s pleads and quickly turned away ‘oh no he’s making that face again, the one thing I can’t resist’. He turned back to SpongeBob, attempting to mask his emotions with a straight face “fine, but you’re leaving right after”. SpongeBob squealed in excitement and he jumped onto Squidward's chest, hugging him tightly with his legs wrapped around his back. “Oh thank you Squiddy! We’re gonna have so much fun!” he said cheerfully as he dug his cheek into Squidward’s chest. Squidward froze in shock, his face redder than a tomato ‘why are you freaking out so much?! He always hugs you!’ “W-whatever, now get off of me.”
SpongeBob let go of Squidward and ran into the house, immediately flopping onto the couch. Too excited to sit still, he bounced on the cushions until the TV caught his attention. “Hey Squidward you’re right about those jewel-encrusted mittens, they sure look sophisticated!” he shouted, Squidward still at the door in shock from the encounter. ‘It was just a hug Squiddy. Just a simple hug, that’s all it was’ he thought while walking over to SpongeBob. He sat next to him, but not too close. “What movie are we watching?” he asked, avoiding eye contact. SpongeBob smiled at him “there’s a new Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy movie, I was hoping to watch it with you”. Squidward looked at him and tilted his head, confused. “Why aren’t you watching it with Patrick? Doesn’t he enjoy Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy too?”. SpongeBob giggled “don’t worry, I’ll watch it with him tomorrow. I just wanted to watch it the first time with you” he explained. “Oh, so I’m your test subject?” SpongeBob giggled “no silly, I’m not Sandy! Oh speaking of Sandy, she made this new invention and it’s so cool! It has arms and- oh! It has lasers! I’m not sure why it has lasers but I’m thinking it’s because- “ Squidward rolled his eyes while SpongeBob babbled ‘I can’t wait until this is over’. He grabbed the remote and searched up the movie “do you need anything before I start it or are you gonna keep wasting time?” SpongeBob finished babbling and smiled up at Squidward, then booped his nose with his finger “I only need my best friend Squidward”. Squidward blushed and quickly turned away, hitting play on the movie to avoid attention on him.
SpongeBob excitedly looked at the TV, hands under his chin and admiring the wonders of the opening credits. Squidward noticed his excitement and smiled a bit ‘he’s so cute when he’s happy…’ he then slapped himself. ‘What are you thinking?! First you think about him when he wasn’t even here, now you’re thinking about him when you should be watching a movie!’ SpongeBob noticed Squidward wasn’t paying attention to the movie and put his hand on his, fingers only slightly over his. “Are you okay Squidward?” he asked with a concerned look on his face. Squidward noticed SpongeBob’s fingers on his and blushed, immediately pulling his hand away. “Y-yes I’m fine, let’s just continue watching the movie”. SpongeBob didn’t believe him. “Are you sure? Do you need water or anything?” “No no I’m fine, don’t worry”. SpongeBob raised an eyebrow, still not believing him but looked back at the TV “alright then”. Squidward sighed in relief as SpongeBob turned his attention back to the movie. ‘Another act like that and he’ll think you love him with all your heart!’
Some time has passed, both Squidward and SpongeBob relaxed on the couch. Squidward was focused on the movie until he felt something on his arm. He looked down and saw that it was SpongeBob leaning against him. He froze, cheeks turning bright red. SpongeBob snuggled against Squidward, smiling and enjoying the movie. Squidward’s muscles were so stiff he couldn’t even feel them anymore. All he could think about was the boy leaning against him. He pulled his robe collar with his finger from all his sweating. He needed to get out of there fast. “I-I should go get us some snacks, I’m getting a little hungry” he stuttered. SpongeBob looked up at him and smiled, sitting upright and off of his arm “aww thank you Squiddy!”. Squidward immediately got up and escaped into the kitchen. ‘He leaned on you he leaned on you HE LEANED ON YOU!’ To cool himself off, he got a glass of water and gulped it down. ‘Maybe it was an accident? Maybe he didn’t notice? Maybe he just wasn’t comfortable enough and used me as a pillow?’ He took a deep breath and leaned his back against the wall ‘calm down Squiddy, he simply just laid his perfect head on your arm.’
Once Squidward calmed down, he started preparing popcorn for them. He then noticed something on the counter “hmm…”.
A few minutes later Squidward came back with a bowl of popcorn and two glasses of water, along with something under his arm. SpongeBob looked over at Squidward and bounced excitedly, smiling wide “ooo popcorn! I love popcorn! Thank you!” Squidward handed the bowl and water to SpongeBob. “If you keep bouncing you’ll spill it” he said as he sat down. SpongeBob grabbed the bowl “I’m just so excited, I love popcorn” he said as he shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth. Squidward watched him sloppily devour the popcorn “who would’ve known” he cleared his throat “Anyways, I have a surprise for you” Squidward said. SpongeBob's eyes widened “a surprise? For me?! Oh you shouldn’t have!”. Squidward took out a chocolate bar from under his arm and gave it to SpongeBob “you’re the last person who needs sugar right now but I thought you’d like it”. SpongeBob held the chocolate bar gently, displaying it in his hands as if it was a carefully hand-crafted masterpiece. His eyes sparkled while taking in the beauty of his gift. “Like it?” SpongeBob jumped on Squidward and hugged him around his neck, their cheeks pressed against each other “I LOVE it! Thank you so much Squiddy!”. Squidward blushed and put his hand on Spongebob’s back “like I said, you’re the last person who needs sugar right now”. SpongeBob giggled and hugged Squidward tighter. The hug lasted longer than Squidward expected, which he didn’t seem to mind. “Alright, let’s keep watching the movie before you end up staying here all night” he said as he detached SpongeBob from him gently. SpongeBob sat back down and ate the chocolate bar, smiling widely. Squidward watched SpongeBob from the corner of his eye and smiled a bit, blushing when he realized he actually enjoyed the hug. ‘That wasn’t so bad…’
The movie came to an end, both of them were filled with popcorn. “That was a great movie!” SpongeBob exclaimed. He looked over at Squidward “what did you think?”. Squidward looked at him “it was alright. I still don’t understand why the boat mobile is invisible, it wastes time when they have to look for it”. SpongeBob smiled “the boat has to be invisible so the bad guys can’t find it!” “Well clearly the good guys can’t find it either”. SpongeBob and Squidward both laughed, Squidward snorting a bit which caused SpongeBob to laugh harder. As SpongeBob was laughing, he yawned and started stretching his arms out. Squidward smiled “Wow, I didn’t know you could get tired” he teased. SpongeBob giggled sleepily “yeah, I better get going”.
They got up and Squidward opened the door for SpongeBob, he smiled at the gesture. “Goodbye Squiddy” he said. Before he could leave, Squidward stopped him by holding his arm gently. “Hey Spongebob I…” SpongeBob looked up and smiled widely at him, eyes sparkling “yes Squidward?”. “I just wanted to say that…” SpongeBob smiled wider, eyes sparkling more than Squidward could ever imagine. ‘Just tell him you enjoyed his company already!’ He cleared his throat, putting his hand behind his neck. “I just wanted to say that I enjoyed our time together and wouldn’t mind if you came over again”. SpongeBob smiled as wide as he could and hugged Squidward. “Aww Squiddy… I enjoyed being with you too. I’ll come over as much as you’d like”. Squidward blushed ‘hugging him once won’t hurt…’ he then hesitantly embraced SpongeBob in a hug. The tension in his chest from all night finally released as he hugged SpongeBob ‘this actually feels… good.”’ His arms were so perfectly wrapped around the smaller man, they fit together like two puzzle pieces. ‘I should’ve hugged him earlier…’ he never thought he’d ever hug SpongeBob, but he was enjoying it more than anything else.
A few seconds later SpongeBob broke the hug between them. Squidward was a little sad that their embrace was over, he wished it could’ve lasted longer but he knows it was late. While deep in his thoughts, he didn’t notice when SpongeBob stood on his tippy toes and pulled his head down. He only noticed until…
Squidward’s entire face became red as he felt SpongeBob’s soft lips against his cheek, his eyes wide in shock. He was frozen there like an icicle, but at the same time, his heart was melting with love. The sun in his heart illuminated the darkness of the night. All he could see was sunshine. SpongeBob nuzzled his cheek with his nose before letting go of his head. “Goodnight Squiddy” he whispered before walking back to his house. With his red face, the pounding of his heart, and the love in his eyes, he replied.
“Goodnight Sponge”.