Title: Hate is Mirrored Love
Fandom: SpongeBob SquarePants
Word Count: 300
Rating: Mature
Pairing: SpongeBob/Squidward
Characters: SpongeBob SquarePants, Squidward, Gary
Author's Notes: Tag to the episode, "Home Sweet Pineapple," first aired 1999, August 14th; I consider SpongeBob and Squidward to be consenting adults in this story. This is the first story I've written for this fandom.
Summary: What if Squidward hadn't sent SpongeBob away when he'd sought refuge in his bed?

 

Somehow, he'd wound up sprawled out on top of SpongeBob, tentacles tightly looped around the square sponge. It was mind boggling, and Squidward tried to think back to what had happened, to how the happy sponge had ended up in his bed, spongy body pinned beneath his, sinking into the mattress in a way that was...disconcertingly delicious.

He remembered, with a start, that the sponge was homeless, and nearly shoved the displaced sponge from the bed. His body had other ideas, though, tentacles drawing the sponge closer, even as his mind tried to push the sponge further away.

Ideas that were unsettling, and completely discombobulating, assailed him, and he held his breath until they passed. He didn't love the sponge, he hated the overly saccharine leech. Hated him with a passion that...well, that damn well mirrored love.

Shit.

"Squidward, you're awake!" SpongeBob's cheerful voice grated on Squidward's nerves, jarring him from his spiraling thoughts, and yet Squidward was content to merely tighten his tentacles around the sponge and rest his head on the porous body.

Damn double-crossing tentacles.

"Mmm," Squidward mumbled, lips brushing against SpongeBob's chest.

Damn unconscious mind.

The sponge shuddered and Squidward pressed a kiss to the yielding chest, smiling when SpongeBob drew in a sharp breath and whispered Squidward's name in a quavering voice filled with awe. It went straight to his tentacles and made them tauten, and he knew then that this was something he’d wanted for a long time -- SpongeBob’s dimwitted worship of him -- but had always feared to pursue.

"Let's sleep a little longer," Squidward suggested and SpongeBob shivered, even as he nodded.

"Y-y-yeah," SpongeBob said, squirming delightfully when Squidward peppered him with kisses, tentacles compressing and releasing, like a happy cat's kneading paws.

Gary meowed his approval and purred in contentment.