This was inspired by the episode 'Patrick's Staycation' where, at the end of the episode, it showed SpongeBob sleeping over at Mr Krabs' place and he reacted to it like it was a regular thing.

Hope you enjoy! x

The (Not So) Spare Room

Mr Krabs had always had a spare room in his home. From the day the newly widowed crab moved in with his baby daughter, it was empty and there.

Always there.

Somehow, it bothered him and he could never put a claw on why. It just made him feel like there was something missing from his life.

And there was.

His wife had died very young, not long after they adopted their daughter. She was gone from his life, leaving a gaping hole behind that he knew would be near impossible to fill.

They had wanted a house full of children, he guessed that's why he bought a home with an extra room. For the second child he'd never have.

In an attempt to scratch the itch, he tried filling the room to give it a use.

First, he made it a playroom for his daughter, that worked well until she was too old to want to play anymore.

Then, he made it into a home gym. He used it once before selling the equipment, he knew it wasn't for him.

He tried a music room, second sitting room, a memorabilia room and more.

He eventually just turned it into a guest bedroom, not that he had a lot or any guests.

He figured the room would just stay empty and silent, forever itching at the back of his head of all those missing pieces of his life.

Then, when his daughter was fifteen and at an age where the father rarely saw her anymore, his life brightened unexpectedly.

Suddenly he had another kid to look after.

While working at the Krusty Krab he had made a good friend out of his employee, Squidward. The octopus even became an unofficial uncle to Pearl. But he was an adult and a fiercely independent one at that.

Then SpongeBob stumbled into his life, literally. He had heard about the boy and his best friend from Squidward but the grump hadn't done the boy justice.

Yes, he was loud and full of energy but he was a hard worker. He was dedicated, trustworthy and kind hearted. The perfect employee at only 17 years old.

So, he was young, fresh into the working world and very naive. Just in his interview he let the two trick him so easily into a fools task. Yes, he proved his worth and was hired after saving the day but Mr Krabs realised he was too trusting.

He knew that day he would have to keep an eye out for the boy, he could get hurt easily.

He watched as SpongeBob lit up every room, made everyone smile, shake off Squidward's insults and break through the grump's hard exterior. Mr Krabs knew Squidward had grown equally protective of the optimist.

He met Patrick and Sandy. He was fond of the three kids, Patrick was an idiot but his heart was in the right place. He and SpongeBob were two peas in a pod! Sandy was incredibly bright and gifted.

The customers adored the boy and his friends, they loved to watch their antics.

It was a night not long after they'd met. Pearl was sleeping over at her friend's house and Mr Krabs was enduring another night alone.

There was a knock at the door.

Mr Krabs opened it curiously only to reveal a very upset SpongeBob on his doorstep.

"SpongeBob?" he frowned in concern at the sobbing boy, "What's wrong lad?"

"I-I had a dream!" SpongeBob cried miserably. "You fired me!"

Mr Krabs stared at the boy blankly.

"Please don't fire me!" The boy sobbed, practically begging. "I don't mean to mess up so often! I really love this job and I don't think I can do anything else!"

The crab blinked once before sighing, he wrapped an arm around the boy and pulled him into the house.

He assured the boy he wasn't going to fire him and that he was doing a great job before allowing him to stay in the spare room for the night.

This would be the start of a long list of stays.

SpongeBob stayed there when he had bad dreams, when he was ill, had a particularly bad work day, failed his boating test and a few times where someone had hurt him.

One morning Mr Krabs was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast with his daughter.

"Daddy?" She called over the top of her phone, "Where's my jellyfish plushie? I swear I left it in my room but it's gone?"

"It's in SpongeBob's room darlin'." Mr Krabs answered as he read the paper. "He stayed the other night, some hero of his turned out to be a bully and he was heartbroken so I thought it would help."

Pearl stared at her father for a moment with a grin. She knew this day was coming, SpongeBob felt like a brother to her at this point with how often they hung out at the Krabs' residence.

"SpongeBob's room?" Pearl asked knowingly, Mr Krabs choked on his coffee.

"I-I mean-" he coughed awkwardly.

"You're right, he needs my plush more than me" Pearl stood with a chuckle, "I think you should give him a key, that way he can get in easier if he needs to."

"Pearl-" Mr Krabs tried to follow her but she turned and hugged him,

"It's ok, I know you're not replacing me and I know you've always wanted more kids... SpongeBob needs a father figure." She smiled as she pulled away. "One day he's gonna get hurt real bad and he needs somewhere he feels safe."

Mr Krabs smiled, his daughter was intelligent and he couldn't be prouder.

He knew what he had to do next.

The following day at work he excused himself during his lunch break to go get another key cut, he even bought a little plastic snail keyring to attach to it. He was excited to see the boy's face when he gave it to him.

He didn't.

For a whole week he tried to but something felt wrong. He was afraid SpongeBob would feel weirded out by it or like he was trying to replace his current father.

He just didn't know how to give him the key without it being a big deal.

It was closing time that Friday evening, Pearl was waiting for her father to finish cleaning up. Squidward hadn't been in that day due to it being his day off and SpongeBob left an hour ago to go hang out with Patrick.

She was so bored.

Bored enough that she answered the phone when it rang.

"Good evening, this is the Krusty Krab." She began only to be interrupted by a worried voice.

"Pearl?" It was Patrick.

"Hey Patrick," She picked at her nails, "What's up?"

"Is SpongeBob there?" Patrick asked hopefully.

"No? he left like, an hour ago?" Pearl frowned, "I thought he was hanging out with you?"

"He was supposed to be but he never showed up!" Patrick fretted, worried about his best friend. "You sure he left? He's a little guy, it's easy to lose him!"

"He's yellow, I'd know if he was here in an empty restaurant!" Pearl rolled her eyes but couldn't deny the gnawing worry. "So, he never got home?"

"No! I even checked my place in case he got mixed up with whose house we were staying in but he's not there either!" Patrick sounded like he was on the verge of tears, "He's never late!"

"Ok... look, I'm sure he's ok! He probably found a snail somewhere and got distracted." Pearl tried to console him, "Stay at his place, my dad and I will go look for him, ok? I'll keep you updated."

Patrick agreed tearfully.

Pearl hung up the phone and hurried to her father's office.

"Daddy?" She poked her head round the door to see her father heading towards her.

"Sorry Pearly," He smiled, "I'm finished now."

"Patrick called; SpongeBob never made it home." Pearl bit her lip worriedly as her father's face fell, "We don't know where he is."

Mr Krabs swallowed worriedly before ushering them out the building, he locked the doors and looked around.

"He's gotta be somewhere." He nodded firmly, "We'll walk to his place, keep an eye out for him."

And so, they walked the route the sponge normally took, only to arrive at his house none the wiser.

By now Patrick was sitting on SpongeBob's doorstep with Squidward sat beside him.

"Did ya find him?" Patrick asked hopefully, Mr Krabs shook his head.

Patrick sniffled before cuddling the reluctant Squidward, he glanced up at the two Krabs'.

"He knocked on my door after he called you to see if the kid was at mine." Squidward shrugged, "He wouldn't leave so... here I am."

Mr Krabs smirked weakly.

Where was SpongeBob?

"I'm gonna go check Sandy's place." Pearl announced, "Daddy, maybe you should check our place just in case."

"Ok, Mr Squidward." Mr Krabs looked at his employee, "Please go with her, just in case. Patrick, stay here."

Everyone agreed and went their separate ways.

Mr Krabs had never gotten to his home faster; he hoped the boy was sitting on the doorstep.

But there was no sign of him anywhere.

The old sailor could only think of one more place the boy could be, he hoped it wasn't the case.

He arrived at the Chum Bucket and looked up at the sign with fury, he swore if Plankton had hurt the boy there would be hell to pay.

Quietly as he could he made his way through the dusty restaurant to the back, this was where Plankton's lab resided.

He peered through the door and felt his blood boil.

There, strapped to a chair, was SpongeBob. He looked nervous, he was leaning heavily to the side as his eyes darted around the room.

Mr Krabs frowned, was Plankton not there?

He only gave it a further moment before walking into the lab, SpongeBob's eyes immediately landed on him.

"Shh!" The crab was quick to shush, SpongeBob nodded as he deflated with exhaustion. "You ok lad?"

He began freeing the boy.

SpongeBob nodded sleepily.

"He did something to my brain," He whispered, slurring his words. "But I didn't give him the recipe!"

Now he was worried, the boy could barely keep his eyes open. He lifted him onto his feet only to end up nearly carrying him.

"What did he do?" Mr Krabs pressed as he held the boy up,

SpongeBob just gave a jaw cracking yawn as a response.

"He's fine, don't worry" Karen's voice made Mr Krabs jump.

"Yer not gonna stop me?" He asked curiously.

"No, my useless husband already messed up the plan. There's no point keeping him here." The computerised face rolled her eyes.

"Can ye tell me what's wrong with 'im?" The old sailor asked as he shifted SpongeBob's weight.

"Well, Plankton tricked him into coming to the Chum Bucket. He was supposed to drug him with a truth serum but instead he drugged him with knock out gas. How he screwed that up I have no idea, I labelled them clearly but does he ever pay attention? No!" She complained harshly, "Anyway, he just got a little more of the gas than he should've. He's been hallucinating for the past hour or so, he's just exhausted. Good night's sleep and he'll be back to his old self!"

Mr Krabs glanced at the sleepy sponge.

"O-Ok... good... Thank ye." He nodded awkwardly before dragging SpongeBob out through the building. "C'mon boyo, bedtime."

"Yes please," SpongeBob slurred, "Can I stay with you?"

"I wasn't about to leave you anywhere else." Mr Krabs chuckled as they headed up the path together.

It was then he saw Squidward and Pearl up ahead, he called to them to get their attention and winced when he felt SpongeBob flinch.

The two came running over and stared at the loopy boy in concern.

"What happened to him?" Squidward gaped as he studied his neighbour.

"Plankton." Mr Krabs snarled. Both Squidward and Pearl frowned angrily at the familiar name.

"Squidward!" SpongeBob cheered, he pulled away from Mr Krabs and threw himself at his grumpy neighbour. "I missed you t'day!"

Luckily Squidward caught him or he'd be flat in the sand.

"Yeah... missed you too buddy..." Squidward patted him awkwardly, pulling the sponge back onto his feet.

"No, you didn't!" SpongeBob giggled inanely, "Did you really? Really, really?"

"Yup," Squidward huffed with an eye roll, "Always do."

"Awww Squiddy! You big softie!" He cooed in response as he clumsily tried to step back, Squidward grabbed him as he tilted too far. "Did ya hear that Mr Krabs? Squiddy missed me!"

"That's great lad." Mr Krabs chuckled as Squidward struggled to keep the Sponge on his feet.

SpongeBob glanced at Pearl, doing a double take.

"Pearl! It's passed your bedtime!" He whooped; Pearl giggled.

"Yours too." Mr Krabs smirked as he pulled one of SpongeBob's arms around his neck, "C'mon."

"Mr K! I don't have a bedtime anymore!" SpongeBob giggled tiredly before suddenly gasping dramatically. "PATRICK!"

"Relax, I'll tell him you'll have a sleepover another night." Squidward soothed, happy to no longer have the boy hanging off him.

"NO!" SpongeBob wobbled as he tried to pull away to walk home, "I need to get home! I'm late!"

"You aren't going home, yer stayin' with us tonight." Mr Krabs reminded him.

"But what about my BFFFFF?" Sponge asked sadly, Pearl giggled.

"I think you meant BFF? Too many fs." She laughed as they all began walking home, SpongeBob just looked at her with wide eyes.

It took SpongeBob a moment, he then laughed hysterically. Pearl couldn't help but join in.

"Good luck Mr Krabs." Squidward smirked as he headed homewards, "I think you're going to need it."

"Wait! Squiddy!" SpongeBob called, "Look after Patrick for me!"

Squidward sighed.

"Fine."

"Bye!" SpongeBob waved enthusiastically.

Before long Mr Krabs had managed to haul his employee home and up the stairs, it took twice as long as it usually would as SpongeBob continuously tripped and tried to change direction.

Soon enough though he settled him into bed. SpongeBob was out like a light.

Mr Krabs smiled sadly at him, he hated that this had happened.

He pulled the spare key out of his pocket and placed it on the bedside table, he wrote a little note:

Here lad,

I think you're gonna need your own key,

How else will you get to your room?

You're welcome anytime, son!

Love, Mr Krabs

He nodded fondly before leaving the room, shutting the door behind him.

He went to bed and for the first time in years, there was no empty space itching at the back of his head. He gave the room a purpose, he allowed SpongeBob to fill the hole left by his acceptance of no more children.

And though, he dreaded dealing with the groggy boy in the morning he slept better than he had in years.

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