Spongebob silently flipped Krabby Patties. It was surprisingly quiet today. Not just because he wasn't being as obnoxious as usual, but because there were barely any customers in the restaurant. Only about a dozen had come in since eight o' clock(now being around noon). Two now sat at a table, sipping their sodas in the silence. Other than that, all he could hear was the sizzling of the patties on the grill.

He turned his attention to Squidward, who had his head leaned up against the frame of the window, reclined in the cashier boat. He was reading an issue of "Boring Science Digest", flipping the pages with a look of discontent on his face.

'I don't want him to ignore me... I hate it when he does...' He thought to himself as he stared out the window, getting lost in his own world. 'But if I say something, he'll just get angry. But if I don't he may never speak to me again!' He could feel himself getting worked up, and he took deep breaths to relax himself. Being slightly OCD, he was prone to worrying about the simplest things like this. And he could never get it out of his head unless the problem was resolved. He continued to take slow breaths, as this was what always relaxed him when he was like this.

'I really hope he doesn't hate me. All I was doing was trying to make him happy... Why doesn't he see that I care about him?' He continued to think, eyes glazed as he stared. 'He always complains that nobody does, but I do. And I'm right in front of him...'

"Spongebob, I need a Krabby Patty with cheese."

Spongebob almost jumped out of his pants as he was startled by the squid. He had really been out of it. He looked up with nervous eyes at him, trying to recover. "H-huh? What?"

"I said I need-" He stopped himself to look down at the grill below him. "Spongebob?"

"Y-yeah?" He tried to maintain a calm tone in his voice, but he could feel his hands shaking.

"The patties are burning." He stated, pointing to the grill below him.

Spongebob looked down in horror at the black smoke that was rising from the grill. "The patties!" In a panic he grabbed a fire extinguisher from the corner of the room and sprayed it on the grill in a frenzy. When the smoke cleared, he looked to see all that was left of the patties were little stubs of coal like objects. His eyes welled up as he grabbed them in his hands and looked at them shamefully. "The poor patties!" He cried out, sobbing sadly.

Squidward couldn't help but smile at the scene that had just taken place. Even though he always acted as if he was annoyed with the sponge's care for the restaurant, he always thought it was kind of humorous. Like his life depended on making each patty perfect for each and every customer. He had an amazing heart.

Spongebob sighed and threw the coal into the wastebasket behind him. Then he caught Squidward's eye, and his smile. "What are you smiling about?" He asked, returning to the grill.

Squidward quickly shook it away and reverted back to his original state. "Er...nothing.." A slight blush went across his face. "Anyways, I need a Krabby Patty with cheese." He said, before returning back to his place.

Spongebob blinked. 'He was smiling at me? Maybe he isn't mad at me...' He took a deep breath before grabbing a raw patty and putting it on the grill. 'Patrick's right. I shouldn't worry so much... Even though I can't help it...'

After he finishes the patty, he brings it out to the customer, now with a smile on his face. He wasn't going to let his worries get the better of him. "Here you go, sir! Made with 100% pure love!" He blew a kiss onto the Krabby Patty and smiled lovingly at the fish.

As he headed back, running almost, he suddenly felt his foot get caught on something. He flew through the air, as he had been walking pretty fast, and he slammed into the wall next to the door that led back to the kitchen. It took him a few seconds to register what had just happened before he heard the laughs of the customers in the restaurant. Obviously finding the situation hilarious. He held his head, that took most of the impact and groaned.

Then he noticed a tentacle reaching out towards him. He blinked a few times to clear his eyes and he saw Squidward standing above him. He was holding out his tentacle for him to take.

"Well, do you want my help or not?" The squid asked impatiently.

Spongebob finally took it and he stumbly got to his feet, feeling slightly dizzy. "Ooh..." He held his head, which now had a good sized blueish/blackish lump on it.

"You ok?" Squidward asked, looking slightly concerned as he looked at the bump.

"Y-yeah, I think..." He murmured. "What did I trip on?"

"A rusty nail, or something.." Squidward muttered. "Probably because Mr. Krabs doesn't bother to replace the floorboards."

Spongebob nodded slightly before noticing the customers were still laughing at the display. He blushed bright red at this, as he had been publicly humiliated at the Krusty Krab more times than he could count.

"Ignore them."

"Huh?" He looked up at Squidward to see he was now looking out at the customers with a slight glare.

"Ignore them, I said." He repeated. "You don't need those bottom feeder's opinions." He then walked back over to the cashier boat to sit down and read his magazine.

'Squidward defended me...' Spongebob thought, now blocking out all background noise. He smiled to himself. 'I knew I was worrying too much!' He was relieved to know his neighbor wasn't completely ignoring him.

"Are you going to go back to the grill? We have more customers." Squidward said from the boat, in monotone.

"Yeah, sorry." He replied, saluting.

And as he entered the kitchen, he heard a customer take an order than stifle some giggles. "Did you just see the idiot that tripped over the nail?" He asked, presumably Squidward, laughing with what sounded like another girl fish.

The next reply came from Squidward. "It's none of my business or yours, so shut up." He could picture Squidward glaring at the customer. "What if everyone in this restaurant laughed at YOU if you slammed face first into a concrete wall?"

The fish muttered disapprovingly. "Just give me my Krabby Patty."

His heart fluttered as he now flipped patties with extra exuberance. All worries of his and Squidward's friendship left his mind completely as he happily gave the squid the rude fish's order. Not even when fish made snide comments towards him did he get upset. He had that moment to keep him going through the day.

It was now eight o' clock at night, and Spongebob was locking up the Krusty Krab, humming as he took his time turning the key.

"Come on, Spongebob... I'd like to get home, now!" Squidward complained from behind him.

"Almost ready, Squidward!" He called back. He turned to the Krusty Krab, tucking the keys in his pocket. His eyes lit up brightly as he stared at the building above him. "Until tomorrow, I salute you and your amazingly delicious Krabby Patties!"

Squidward groaned. "Spongebob..."

"Coming!" And he skipped over to where Squidward had been waiting for him, and they began their walk home together.

"Well, that was uneventful." Squidward muttered, referring to their day of work.

"Are you kidding? That was one of the best days of work I've ever had!" Spongebob exclaimed happily.

Squidward scoffed. "You say the same thing every time we walk home." He said.

"I have a lot of good days, I guess." Spongebob said plainly.

"I've noticed."

"Oh, I forgot to thank you." Spongebob remembered.

"For?"

"Helping me up and defending me.."

Squidward gave him a look. "When did I defend you?"

"I heard a customer come up to you and say something about me, and then you said-"

"I don't remember this." Squidward cut him off quickly.

"I know you said it." Spongebob insisted.

"I don't think I did." He turned his head away from him.

"Yes, you said this EXACTLY." He poked Squidward to make sure he was listening, and he pulled his nose down to elongate it to the size of Squidward's. He yanked out his belt and tied it around him to form the shape of his head, and then grew two more legs(being a sponge) and formed them like tentacles. He then gave a sarcastic look, eyes slanted in an uncaring way. "It's none of my business or yours, so shut up. What if everyone in this restaurant laughed at YOU if you slammed face first into a concrete wall?" He spoke in a voice that sounded amazingly like Squidward's. Then he giggled like he usually did.

Squidward looked on, astonished at how well he could do the impression and how much he looked like him. He then folded his arms. "So what if I did say it?" He wondered.

"I was just saying thank you." Spongebob said, smiling. He still kept his "costume" on, despite his impression being over. "But...if you did say it...then why did you say you didn't?" He asked.

Squidward felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead. "I-I just forgot..." He quickly covered. He was secretly embarrassed to admit to Spongebob that he had intentionally done that for him. It wasn't a strong suit of his to admit his liking to others. He didn't always outwardly express himself.

"Oh. Well thanks anyways!" Spongebob said, oblivious to what he was trying to hide. He laughed in a Squidward like manor, nose inflating and deflating as he did.

Annoyed, Squidward grabbed Spongebob's nose in his tentacle. "Stop doing that." He demanded.

Spongebob laughed in his regular way, nasal from the tight grip he had. "Sorry, Squid."

"And take off your belt. You don't need to impersonate me." He let go of Spongebob's nose.

"Why? I like impersonating you." He smiled brightly.

Squidward sighed. "Whatever."

As they approached their homes, Spongebob turned to say one last thing. "So, Squidward... Are you still...mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" Squidward asked, then realizing how that sounded. "Besides all of the usual reasons..." He added.

Spongebob blushed. "You know..."

Squidward then remembered. "No, Spongebob. Ok? Does that make you happy?"

Spongebob lit up immediately. "Yes! Oh, Squidward, I thought you hated me!" He cried, relieved.

"I do hate you." Squidward muttered, sighing knowing full well the sponge wouldn't understand that.

Spongebob smiled, feeling like this was a good time to make an offer again if Squidward wasn't mad at him. He pulled it out from his back pocket. "So, you DO want it?"

Squidward slapped his forehead, knowing he should have expected this. But he didn't feel like straining himself yelling at the sponge anymore. He knew if he just took it, he would be a step closer to going to bed and resting finally. He sighed. "Fine, I'll take it."

Spongebob gasped excitedly and bit his lip hard as he smiled. He handed it to Squidward, and unknowing of it's weight, almost dropped it into the sand. "What's in this thing?" He asked, picking it up with effort.

"Open it! Open it!" Spongebob cheered.

Squidward sighed. "I'll open it tomorrow, I need to get some sleep." He rubbed his tired eyes and headed for his house.

Spongebob's face slightly. "Squid-Don't you want to open it now?"

"Tomorrow, Spongebob!" He called back, opening his door and slamming it shut.

Spongebob smiled, happy that he had at least taken it. He couldn't wait to see his neighbor's face when he found out what it was. "Ok, see you tomorrow, Squidward!" He called, running into his pineapple house, clicking his heels with joy as he did.

Inside Squidward's house, he looked at the velvet covered gift in question. Did he really want to open it? Or was he going to be disappointed by a stupid gift that only Spongebob would want?

Too tired to decide, he put the gift up on the shelf above his fireplace and walked up the stairs to finally go to sleep. Only awaiting another Sponge-filled day in the morning.

Spongebob now yanked the belt free from himself and put on his new green flannel p.j's with a matching cap. He had bought them to match Squidward's when he had invited him over once for a sleepover.(When really it was because Squidward had lost a bet against him)

He headed up to his room and settled in his bed. He smiled at his snail, who was slithering over to his bed now. "Oh, Gary, today was a good day. Squidward finally took his present." He lifted the covers over himself.

"Mreow..." Gary meowed, rolling his eyes, as if to say it was about time.

"Tomorrow's gonna be even better when he opens it.." He sighed contently at the thought. He then leaned down and kissed Gary on the eye stalk and snuggled into his pillow. "Good night my little angel."