Nicktoons Unite: Turning the Tables

16: 𝔉𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔣𝔩𝔦𝔢𝔰

3rd POV

     Timmy jolts out from his trance and looks at the person griping his hand. "SB?! What the hell are you-" "Language" the sponge said in a stern yet calm voice. He didn't seem mad or disappointed, he had a small sad smile on his face. The realisation hit Timmy like a truck, "I-I didn't-" he stuttered over his words, the sponge still gripping his bleeding wrist. "It's ok Timmy, we've all been through this stage in life where times get tough.." the sponge says reassuringly. This baffled Timmy, he quickly pulled his wrist and frantically threw the shard in his other hand into the pond. Spongebob just watched his movements carefully, then sat down next to the brunette. Timmy didn't have anything to use to cover up his wrist so it was just left exposed.

They sat there for a few seconds before Timmy broke the silence, ".... so.. aren't you going to question what you just saw??" he asked as he faced the sponge. "No," the sponge replied nonchalantly but then added. "I'm questioning how I didn't see this sooner....". His tone was almost disappointed and sad as if he was blaming himself for not seeing his friend's struggles. Timmy didn't know whether to joke about the situation or apologise. He looked back at the pond and looked down in the depths to see if he could still see the shard. No, it was gone. It has sunken deep down into the water. Then something made Timmy blurt "Wait-" making the sponge blink out of deep thought.

"What are you doing here? Why are you even here??" Timmy questioned his friend who appeared out of thin air. Spongebob looked away from the pond to Timmy, "Oh, I was catching fireflies!" the sponge said gleefully as he pulled out a jar with miniature floating lights in it. The jar looked familiar. Timmy looks carefully at the jar, then back at the broken jar that lay in between the thick roots of the trees. "They're the same jar," he mumbled to himself as he looked again at the broken jar that had a similar lid to the one Spongebob was holding. "Yeah, I came around noon but I tripped over the roots...it's a long story," he says now regretting not cleaning up the broken shards before going back home to get a new jar.

There was a moment of silence. It was a very awkward situation when a friend you don't know too well or are close to sees you in your most vulnerable state. "Timmy. Do you want to know why I'm catching fireflies?" The sponge started with a cheerful voice, he was trying to not make the situation too awkward or humiliating in Timmy's view. The brunette turned his head slightly, looking at the eager sponge. "Yeah...why were you catching... fireflies?" he complies. The sponge chuckled, "Patrick wanted to see fireflies for the first time. As soon as I said they're nothing like butterflies but glowing orbs he immediately wanted to see one." the sponge explained. Timmy let out a beaten chuckle, he was interested in the story but at the same time was desperately trying to ignore the sting on his wrist.

     "How did he react? Did he find it cool?" He asked as he lifted his legs to his chest and hugged them tightly. Spongebob chuckled too, "At first he didn't. You see I just captured one itty bitty firefly at first and by the time I brought it back to my universe its light dimmed out." the sponge explained. "I noticed this and brought it to Sandy to see if she knew what was wrong with it but of course, Sandy gave some scientific conclusion I didn't understand so I returned it to its natural habitat in the end.". "When I returned I tripped over the root and broke the jar the firefly was in," Spongebob alludes to the broken jar behind Timmy, "The firefly suddenly burned brightly again and flew away into the trees to their other friends." The sponge smiled as he ended his story.

     Timmy took a moment to truly understand the story Spongebob has told. "So...you think I'm not happy because I've no friends..?" Timmy asked the sponge as he held his wrist close to his chest. "No... I think you're wallowing in the wrong crowd. You've friends, but they dimmed your glow. You've family, but they drown you. You've loved ones yet they're so distant they don't see your real light so it seems." Spongebob ended as he picked up a stone and threw it across the pond. The stone skipped on the pond like a water strider before finally sinking into the water. Timmy took a moment to breathe in this information. "Wow...that was very-" "Deep? Artistic? Wise? Sagacious?" the sponge blurts out which makes Timmy laugh. "No! I meant to say accurate" Timmy laughed which also made Spongebob laugh.

     They calmed down and it was back to the awkward silence again. Timmy found comfort in the silence which was unusual to him. Normally he hated the silence but this time he liked this silence. He watched as Spongebob picked up another stone, held it tightly, aimed and fired. The stone skipped across the pond further than before. The stone skipping on the water made a nice sound that filled the awkward atmosphere. It went on like this for another few minutes, just hearing Spongebob move stones aside to pick the best stone, then aiming and firing the stone which skipped along the pond as if it was meant for it.

Timmy was so mesmerised by the calming sounds it was almost like his cut wasn't there anymore. Timmy felt like everything bad that happened at that moment and before had disappeared. As if they ran away to a place to hide from the shining yet cooling bright sunshine. Without thinking, Timmy said in a loud enough voice, "Hey, Spongebob...are we friends?". The sponge was in the midst of firing his seventh stone when he heard this sudden question. He lost his aim and the stone didn't skip as far as the other six. Spongebob turned around and looked at Timmy quietly as if waiting to see if Timmy realised what he had said. Timmy quickly turned red and tried covering it up by making futile jokes and laughing loudly in hopes of driving the attention somewhere else.

     "hAHAAHAHA!!-It's nothing! Just me being stu-" "Of course we are,". This caught Timmy off guard and quickly hushed him. Timmy was overcome with emotions he had felt before but never actually took the moment to let these emotions sink in. To allow these emotions to engulf him and feel... sad. He felt tears prickle down his cheeks as the sponge sat next to the brunette. Spongebob gave him a comforting pat then a hug...

"We will forever be friends. No matter what happens.".

~✨🖤🌈

~Sometimes I wonder if I'm destined to never have a best friend. Every time I do make a best friend, bad things erupt and ruin our relationship or when I thought I made a best friend only to be humiliated and realise that they never have seen me as a best friend. Is this a curse? Or is it just me not finding the right one? Am I a bad person or maybe God got rid of them because they're a bad person? Is a best friend indeed vital in a man's life? Or is it just a dream I will only hallucinate in my spare time? Only God will know.