Prompt 7- Key
A/N: Some SpongeBob and Squidward brotherly fluff ahead! Hope you enjoy! P.S Anyone who gets what literary reference I'm making in this oneshot gets one of Squid's mom's cookies! Apologies if there's any OOC-ness.
...
SpongeBob's fingers of his left hand enclosed round dust balls and the cloth of his pants pocket- but no key.
"No problem, I'll just get my spare key from under the mat...and...wait a minute- that was the spare key! Oh my Neptune! Gary, Gary!" SpongeBob shouted, banging on the door to attract the attention of his beloved pet snail. "Gary, I lost my key again! Please could you let me in? Gary, be a pal and let me in out of the rain!"
But Gary was curled up on SpongeBob's chair in the library, snoozing, with the book 'To Butcher a Bivalve' resting beside him.
...
SpongeBob received no response from his pet and so he slithered down the door in defeat, groceries cradled in one arm, his head in his other hand, rain soaking his bag and his spongy frame.
Well, he lost both keys, and he couldn't get into his house through the windows- the only way he could get back in quickly was to break in- but unless he wanted to get entangled with the police again for 'breaking into' his house, there wasn't any point in destroying his front door just because he mislaid his house key and his spare in the space of a week.
"What am I gonna do now?" He asked himself despairingly, as the rain continued to lash down on him. "I could stay with a friend until the rain passes! But Sandy's in Texas for the weekend, Patrick's with his parents, and Mr Krabs lives too far away from here to walk"-
He suddenly heard the off tune screeching of Squidward's clarinet, and he grinned. "I know who'll help me!" He sprang to his feet, delighted at the prospect of calling in on one of his two favourite neighbours in Bikini Bottom!
...
Squidward was now tuning his clarinet, ready to practice his newest piece he had written at work in a rare burst of activity, when he suddenly heard a bang on his front door. Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he ignored the noise and began to play his new song – obliviously horribly- on his beloved instrument.
But the knocking continued, and no matter how hard or how loud Squidward played his clarinet, he could still hear the door, causing him to lose patience, until- "BARNACLES!" He shrieked, nearly throwing down his clarinet in a fit of anger, before taking deep breaths to calm himself. "Get it together, Squiddy- it'll just be SpongeBob. Just do what you normally do, and it'll be fine."
He had a feeling in his gut that those words were false, but false hope was better than nothing when dealing with his nuisance of a next door neighbour at a time like this.
So he stormed downstairs, clarinet in hand and threw open the door. Outside stood a shivering SpongeBob, holding a bag of groceries in the nook of his arm, water dripping off his long nose and leaking out of his pores. He shot a warm, relieved smile up at Squidward, who only scoffed in disgust at the sponge's pathetic appearance.
"Good evening, Squidward," the poriferan greeted politely and kindly. "How are you?"
"I was perfectly fine- until you knocked on my door and disturbed my clarinet practice!" The octopus retorted rudely, already sorely tempted to slam the door in his neighbour's face. "What do you want?"
"Well, Squid- I'm locked out of my house, and my groceries and I need somewhere to stay until the rain passes- could we please"-
Squidward was glad to give in to temptation, which shook the paintings of him hanging from the walls.
...
Later, the cephalopod decided to curl up on the sofa with a good book and some steaming kelp tea. "Ahh...this is the life..." He sighed, snuggling into the cushions. "I do pity any poor soul not in my tentacles right now..."
At once an image of a pathetic looking SpongeBob hit him, and he recoiled.
"Well, maybe apart from SpongeBob, of course...I mean, he ruins my good days and worsens my bad ones!" He snapped, arguing with his conscience in an attempt to stifle the guilt he felt at leaving SpongeBob in the rain so callously. Yet, no matter how many times he tried to rid his mind of the memory, it assaulted him harder than before.
"Ughh...that little barnacle head better appreciate what I'm going to do next, because I'm certainly going to regret it." He sighed at last, abandoning his tea and book before storming over to the door again. Opening it, he couldn't see SpongeBob anywhere- and at first, he was relieved, until an accidental glimpse to the left revealed a pale, droopy ball of yellow curled round his groceries like a mother snail defending her young, and huddled into the door of the pineapple he called home. Seeing this made Squidward feel worse.
"Hey, Sponge! Get over here!" He shouted. He watched as the ball unfurled itself and shuffled over to Squidward's Easter Island head house.
...
"Gosh, thanks for inviting me in, Squidward- you're a real pal." SpongeBob said gratefully, sitting on a nest of old towels on Squidward's sofa about eight and a half minutes later, forgetting about the fact that Squidward had shut him out long before- either that, or he didn't realise that Squidward didn't want him around- nothing new, in other words.
"Yeah, whatever- don't mention it." The cephalopod replied disinterestedly, picking up his book again and opening it to where he left off. On seeing SpongeBob tempted to say something, he raised a tentacle for silence. "Seriously, don't mention it."
"Okay. Whatcha reading, buddy?" SpongeBob questioned, shuffling along the sofa to the octopus, minding to keep his nest of towels that Squidward insisted on.
Squidward flinched at the question. "I am reading my new book about an artist named Pike Pacific -which I would like to enjoy in peace!" He hissed rudely, not in the slightest bit interested in making conversation with his unwanted guest- only invited in by his stupid conscience.
"Alright, Squid- I'll leave you to it." SpongeBob's innocent, cerise coloured eyes fell upon his bag of groceries. Two pink and purple sachets were sticking out, giving him an idea of how to thank Squidward for his kindness. "Hey, Squidward- may I please borrow your kettle?" He asked politely.
Squidward narrowed his eyes at the peculiar request, but shrugged. "Fine- and if you need to use anything, just help yourself." He added with a grunt- anything to get SpongeBob off his back, even if only for so long until he was able to leave here for good. "Just...just don't destroy my house, please." He requested.
"Thanks Squiddy!" SpongeBob cheered, and dashed off to the kitchen to work on his surprise to Squidward.
...
"Da-dee-da-dum- da-dee-doo-lee-da-dee..." the sponge hummed in time to the kettle's loud whistling and screeching, pulling out two mugs from one of Squidward's cupboards, and swiftly tearing open the packets from his bag, before pouring their contents into the mugs and emptying the boiled water from the kettle into the mugs.
A rich, delicious, tantalising aroma drifted towards his nose, and he sniffed appreciatively, his mouth watering at the smell.
Then, SpongeBob saw a plate of cookies on the kitchen worktop. Remembering Squidward's words, he decided to take them through too- after all, the only thing better than hot cocoa was hot cocoa and cookies! He knew they were Squidward's, so he wasn't going to touch them- but perhaps Squid liked cookies and hot cocoa. SpongeBob adored the combination- a treat his grandma made him and Patrick in the winter months when they were kids, as it was often colder around that time of year.
Balancing the plate carefully on his head, he swiftly grabbed both mugs and skilfully headed into Squidward's living room with the goodies.
"Hey Squid- I got something for you!" He called cheerfully, with the biggest, goofiest grin on his face. Boy, was Squid gonna be surprised!
Squidward looked up with a groan- and nearly fell off his seat when he saw the little yellow cretin -with his mom's cookies! "SpongeBob- why have you got my mother's cookies?" He demanded crossly. "You better explain yourself!"
"But...but I thought you said I could help myself to anything I needed..." SpongeBob replied, his eyes showing confusion and tears of sadness. "Besides, I wasn't going to eat them- I brought them back for you, Squid. I just thought you'd enjoy cookies and hot cocoa..."
"And what in the name of Neptune inspired you to do such a childish act?" Squidward spat, to which SpongeBob started sniffling in reply.
"I only wanted to thank you, Squidward, for being such a good friend and letting me in out of the rain..." he said quietly, tears beginning to stream down his cheeks.
For the second time that day, Squidward's conscience took delight in tormenting him about his new act of aloofness. Shutting his neighbour out in the rain had been bad enough- but then, to rebuff his kindness like that...
'No, no, I am not going there!' He thought, frantically.
But there was something... final about the sound SpongeBob made as he set down the mugs and plate on the coffee table. It was almost inaudible, but hearing it made him feel a lot guiltier than it would normally have.
'Oh, Neptune, I didn't mean to make him cry!' He realised, seeing the poor kid starting to sob his heart out over something so trivial.
Also, the hot cocoa did smell nice...He sniffed the air, and he suddenly felt his childhood memories rush in -of happier times when he was just a larva... which he rarely ever recalled now- with that thought in mind, he lifted up a mug hesitantly, and the plate of cookies.
He felt terrible about snapping at poor SpongeBob for interfering with the cookies - especially as the poriferan meant well, and Squidward did neglect to mention not to touch them. However, he hated trying to apologise to people he had upset- especially to his next door neighbour, of all people.
Instead, he slowly moved the plate in front of his neighbour, hoping that an offering would cease his tears - and convey the much needed message he found hard to say.
"Sponge...?" He asked quietly, causing a tearful sponge to slowly remove his fingers from his tear soaked eyes. He saw the cookie plate in front of him, and looked quizzically at Squidward, who only nodded in affirmation, and jiggled the plate gently but impatiently.
Cautiously, SpongeBob took a cookie from the plate, and then he smiled at Squidward, blue eyes sparkling with joy and affection at this unexpected act of kindness. A warm feeling washed over Squidward, like the sea in the summer- he could somehow tell SpongeBob had forgiven him for getting angry, and he was feeling oddly...happy - or at least, not feeling his usual, grouchy self.
The pair sat together in Squidward's living room, enjoying the hot cocoa, Squidward's mom's cookies and each other's company.
...
Little was either of them aware that Gary had been sleeping in SpongeBob's library- with both keys safely tucked into his shell, alongside his strange assortment.