I know how much you all hate SB/Sandy, but read it anyway. Just a thing I did. A one-shot thing. It's not THAT long.
What I Dreamed Of (Sponge In Love)
The doorbell rang. She was standing on a log as a stool, putting the finishing touches on the decoration. She turned her head just in time to see him walk through the door. He was wearing a black tuxedo with his usual white shirt and red tie beneath it. In his hands he held a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates.
“Hi, Sandy…whoa…” he said, trailing off. He stared at her in amazement, mouth hanging open. His hands dropped to his sides, nearly sending the flowers scattering over the floor. Sandy grinned a secret smile. She was dressed in a gorgeous black dress with a long slit in the side to show off her legs. A flower was tucked behind her ear, and a beautiful pearl necklace hung from her neck. She stepped down off the log and handed something to SpongeBob.
“Here’s to you,” she said, taking the flowers and candies from him and placing her present in his hands. It was a heart-shaped nut, the kind she’d given to him on Valentine’s Day. She had carved a beautiful cursive engraving of his name. She hoped he liked it.
He still didn’t say a word. His eyes traveled up to the Happy Birthday Dinner letters she had hung over the branches of her tree. He looked at the table, with a white tablecloth, chairs, and a single candle glowing beside a vase of three roses. He turned his eyes back to her and looked her up and down.
“Geez, Sandy,” he finally said, a faint whisper. “You sure went all out, didn’t ya?”
“Yup,” she said, her Texas twang filtering in. “I wanted everything to be special.” She looked into his eyes then turned away slowly, heading to the table. She set the flowers in the vase with roses and put the chocolates on the table.
“They’re a thank-you for throwing this for me,” he said, his voice still distant.
“Aw, y’all didn’t have to get me anything,” she said. “I wanted to do this for ya.”
He nodded. Swallowing, he came over to the table and sat down in one of the chairs, placing his hands reverently on the table. Her present he sat rapturously in front of him, staring at it thoughtfully.
“I spent all day cooking these,” she said as she walked into the tree. A moment later she came out with a tray of food of all kinds. She wordlessly cut a piece of steak and put it on his plate, followed by a beautiful pastry. His eyes were wide.
“You really didn’t have to…” he started to say. He took a bite of the meat and exclaimed. “This is perfect, Sandy! How did you do it?”
“I wanted everything to be perfect,” she said simply, settling herself in her chair. She didn’t eat right away. He concentrated on taking helpings of more food and didn’t look up at her for several minutes. When he did, she was staring at him, her eyes half-closed.
“Sandy?” he asked. She raised her head up out of her hands. She lifted an eyebrow expectantly, smiling.
“Thanks so much,” he said swallowing. She nodded and took a sip of tea, still watching him. Suddenly she frowned and accidentally slurped up the rest of it.
“Where’s your water helmet?” she asked, swallowing and setting the tea down on a coaster.
He grinned. “Don’t need it. Do you know what a 12-hour soak in that Camile water can do? I won’t have to worry about drying out for days.”
She giggled. “Glad you enjoyed your trip to the spa!” she joked. He laughed and slipped two pickles out from his plate and placed them on his eyes. She laughed harder. What had she done before SpongeBob?
Suddenly he stopped laughing and put the pickles back on the plate. He didn’t blink for a long time, just kind of…looked at her. She blushed nervously and took a big swig of tea, not daring to breathe. She set it down with a sigh. SpongeBob bit his lip and ate a bite of cake, stuffing a forkful in his mouth. She smacked her lips together.
“So…where did Patrick go again?”
SpongeBob finished chewing before he replied. “To Seashell Park. With Mindy.”
Sandy tried to cover her laughter. SpongeBob grinned knowingly.
“He said she was going to help him plan his party for me…but they both looked awful dressed up.”
“Of course,” said Sandy, smiling. She traced the design of the tablecloth with her finger, then looked up at him. He was apparently lost in that little world he always seemed to drift off to. His eyes clouded over and were fixed on some little speck behind her. She had a moment or two to watch him unobserved. He had a little half-smile on his face, his freckles stood out against his pale yellow skin. His eyes were the deepest blue she had ever seen.
He looked at her suddenly and made a kind of face, recoiling ever so slightly. Her face fell. She hastily looked elsewhere. Her face lit up and she stood from the table. “I’ll be right back,” she grinned and headed back into the tree.
She had been looking at him funny. It had just kind of startled him. He’d just been thinking about how cute of a couple Mindy and Patrick were when he’d looked at her and seen the exact same look, the kind of look Patrick made when he was around Mindy. He blinked hard, trying to cram thoughts out of his mind. When he opened them, Sandy was bustling out of the door, carrying something behind her back.
“I’ve been keeping this ever since I came to Bikini Bottom,” she said, sliding her seat in beside him. She pulled a thick book from behind her and set it on her lap. She opened it up and SpongeBob cradled the other side in his hand.
“It’s a scrapbook,” she said, a sweet smile on her face. She turned the stiff pages with the tips of her fingers. SpongeBob looked earnestly at the moments captured on film. The first few pages were views of the Treedome, Sandy’s brain child. Then there were some of the first time they’d met, with her, him, and Patrick all laughing in her house. Many were of sand boarding exertions and karate contests. There were some of Larry and even one of SpongeBob with a gigantic hole in the back of his shorts. The last page was just a plain picture of SpongeBob in front of his pineapple home, with Gary peeping out the door. Sandy had written captions on all the pictures. This one said simply, “SpongeBob SquarePants, my best friend”. It was on a pretty ocean background and tiny cutouts of seagulls and palm trees were pasted around it. And in the corner, two tiny hearts.
“Wow, Sandy,” he said, slowly closing the book. “That’s really neat.” There were no other words for it. Somehow reliving all his past experiences with Sandy had brought something out into the open; he wasn’t sure what.
“I’m going to make another one,” she said. “I thought we could start with memories of tonight.” She grinned and pulled out a camera and snapped. The expression she got from SpongeBob was a mixture of all kinds of emotions she dared not try to name.
He looked at her with rapt attention, her gaze slipping to the printed picture, a look of contentment on her face. He had never noticed before, or perhaps just never put a name to, how beautiful she was.
Now it was her turn to look at him with a kind of pinched face. Her lips moved in a hushed tone.
“So you for sure won’t dry out?”
“No,” he said, in an equally faint voice.
She swallowed. Her hand moved…just slightly. And her finger touched his…just a little…but enough to send a tremor up her arm and a surge of energy through her. She looked down at their hands. SpongeBob looked too.
Suddenly everything seemed out of place. Her throat tightened and her stomach wrenched in different knots. Her legs felt weak and her heart hammered much too loudly. SpongeBob reached up with his other hand and slowly wiped a dozen droplets of sweat off his forehead.
Oh, what the heck? There was no reason to feel awkward. Hadn’t she dreamt of this? She looked at him with knowing eyes, a smile spreading across her face. She moved her shoulder so she was leaning on her arm. He put a finger in the neck of his shirt and pulled, still sweating. She couldn’t blame him for being nervous. But why bother?
Her face was angelic. His mouth twitched slightly. His temples throbbed and blood rushed to his ears. Tiny alarm bells were going off all around him. He swallowed. His throat suddenly felt dryer than his very first visit at the Treedome.
“SpongeBob,” she said, still in that wondrous reverent whisper. “I-we-we aren’t that different, are we?”
He shook his head, closing his eyes.
“We…” she began, swallowing. “We both want-need-something…a-and we’re probably too afraid to…”
She trailed off. He was looking at her with those beautiful blue eyes. Something must have clicked.
“I think…” he said. “I think I know what you mean. We…um…both feel the same things, but…”
“We’re afraid…” she continued.
“We…”
“Can’t be too shy forever…”
“Sometime…”
“Someone…”
“Has to let go…”
They were inches apart now. Their eyes were wide and their breathing came in short puffs. Suddenly SpongeBob put his hand on her cheek. Her mouth opened slightly in surprise. She felt his hand move, as if to withdraw, but he changed his mind. No one moved. She leaned closer. SpongeBob shook slightly, his nervousness barely under his control. He swallowed. He opened his mouth to say something. Then he leaned closer and Sandy tilted her head.
The moment their lips touched everything seemed so perfect. Nothing was out of place anymore. There was nothing else filling her mind except the feeling of his warm lips and his hand on her face. Slowly, she reached her arms around his head and squeezed, not daring to let go, not wanting the moment to end.
They broke apart, breathless. Her eyes were wide and her whole self tingled. She looked back at him, and he at her. In seconds they were kissing again. Sandy had never felt more elated, no, there had to be a word better than that, but she couldn’t think of anything right now, in all her life. It was what she’d always wanted, always needed, never wanted to lose.
He hadn’t even known what was happening until it was too late to go back, not that he wanted to. So this was the missing piece. The one thing he had strived so hard for, trying to mask with a peppy attitude, trying not to think about. It had been right in front of him the whole time, and now he had it. He wrapped his other arm around her waist. He felt her body sag, melting at his touch. He kissed harder and her leg cocked up.
It was at that moment a horn blew. Outside in the moonlight stood Patrick and Mindy, holding hands, with nearly all of Bikini Bottom around them screaming.
“SURPR-” Patrick started, then stopped as he saw the scene inside the Treedome. SpongeBob and Sandy hastily moved away from each other. All was silent outside. Suddenly everyone exploded in laughter.
“Let’s give the two lovebirds a moment’s peace!” cried Mr. Krabs, his hoarse laugh echoing through the water.
“And this is Realistic Fish Head, watching SpongeBob make-out at his birthday bash!”
Sandy looked at SpongeBob. So there was no way of keeping their newfound affections for one another secret. But one look at his innocent, dejected face told her what she needed to do.
“Let’s give ‘em a show!” she laughed. “Pucker up, SquarePants! This one’ll go down in the books!”
And this time, there was a united awe from the crowd. They’d lost a knucklehead McSpazitron and had earned a sponge in love.
