Squidward's Silent Love (Squidward X Silent! Reader (Broadway version))

Chapter Seven: Aftermath

I walked home with a limp in my step after I was beaten up. I'm just praying that (Y/N) doesn't see me like this. Later, I heard a knock on my door while I was sitting on the couch hugging the teddy bear. I opened the door a crack to see (Y/N).

"H-hello (Y/N), what can I do for you?" I asked.

'Are you alright?' (Y/N) asked.

"O-of course, w-why wouldn't I be?"

'1: you're hiding behind the door 2: you're stuttering 3: you've missed your clarinet practice. What's going on?'

"N-nothing."

(Y/N) gave me a 'don't lie to me' look. I sighed and opened the door for her to come in. I tried hiding my face from her but she forced me to look at her and silently gasped when she saw how bad I looked since I hadn't cleaned myself up yet.

'What happened?' she asked.

"Some construction workers beat me up because I used their crane," I told her.

'Where's your medical kit?' 

"In the kitchen cupboard."

(Y/N) gently took my arm and made me sit on the couch while she got the medkit. (Y/N) cleaned my wounds and plastered them.

"(Y/N)?" She nodded, "I got this for you."

I gave her the bear I won for her. She took it off me with a smile and a nod before continuing with the cut on my temple.

"At this point, I wish you could talk," I said.

(Y/N) gave me another look that I couldn't read and plastered the cut.

'You're lucky I don't have the time to write a lecture,' (Y/N) said.

"I suppose you would've been lecturing me while you were cleaning me up if you could speak," I said.

(Y/N) nodded putting everything away. As she put the medical kit back, I curled up into a ball on the couch disappointed with myself. I should've never gotten so obsessed with that stupid machine. I felt (Y/N) stroke my hair so I looked up at her. I sat up and (Y/N) sat next to me.

'Why did you use the crane?' (Y/N) asked.

"I became too obsessed with Skill Crane and, for some reason, thought the same rules would apply to a real crane," I explained.

'What rules? The game is rigged, there are no rules.'

"Spongebob said that he closed his eyes and became the crane and that's how he kept winning the game. How did you know the game was rigged?"

'Before I moved to Bikini Bottom, there was an arcade in my home town and the claw machines there were rigged. I've won a few times with my eyes open. Sometimes the claws have a strong grip, sometimes they don't so the toy slips out.'

"So why was it convenient that Spongebob won them so many times in a row?"

'Sometimes they have a strong grip multiple times in a row. The machines are complicated.'

"So that's why you didn't seem bothered by not winning anything," I said earning a nod, "and that's why you weren't too bothered when I gave you the bear."

(Y/N) gave me a look of shock and disbelief, 'you got beat up, you were more important! I'm happy that you won and I love the bear, honest, but getting beat up over an obsession was more important.'

I looked down still disappointed that I got myself beat up because of my obsession. (Y/N) took my hand so I looked up at her.

'It doesn't matter now,' she said, 'all that matters is that you are alright.'