Author notes:

Before reading, please take into consideration that this fic centers around the pairing Krabs/Plankton. Allthough in this particular fic it's more like Plankton- Krabs.

With that said, if you don't like slash I advise you to not read this. Thank you. :)

I'd also like to point out that my native language is not English and that this story has not been beta-read, only spell feel free to point out if I've missed anything crucial, I appreciate it.

Now please enjoy the story!

Resolving Issues.

Spying. Yes, that's what you'd call it. Spying in the interest of your own benefits from doing so. Snapping up useful information. Plankton used these definitions lately for whenever he used his hi-tec telescope to look at what was happening in the restaurant, which lied on the opposite side of the road to where he had his. The Krusty Krab and his Chum Bucket. Mr Krabs and him.

Mr Eugene Krabs, his former childhood friend and the current owner or the secret Krabby Patty recipe.

The little green cyclops adjusted himself as he peeked trough his telescope and the first thing he laid his eyes on was that particular crab, who currently seemed to be quite busy pointing one of his big red claws accusingly at that odd-looking cashier of his for some reason Plankton didn't care to bother guessing at this time. He sighed.

"If only I could have a restaurant with employees and customers, then I could also have people to yell at! Stupid Mr Krabs getting all the-"

"Well, maybe if you didn't sit here staring into that telescope all day like you've done lately, you could try to get that secret recipe from your arch rival. Or you could actually try to hire some people to work here!" Plankton's -so called- computer wife Karen interrupted the little man's rant, which only made her -so called-husband more fuming.

"You can say whatever you want Karen, but I know my next plan will work! You just wait and see, I-"

"You don't even have a new plan yet, have you."

Plankton went silent for a few seconds. "It's in an early stage." He confessed and quickly returned to stare at the Krusty Krab and its inhabitant's trough his telescope once again.

Karen sighed.

She happened to know that ever since last week when Mr Krabs had fooled Plankton at the very end of his latest "fool safe" plan which had included in trying to deceive the crab to believe that he'd turned a new leaf. Her husband had not as much as even mentioned any new plans of stealing the secret formula or any of his regular wishes for world domination.

Instead the little cyclops had sat for days just looking into his telescope at the Krusty Krab in utter silence, which had only been interrupted whenever he'd started to rant in envy about what the crab had that he didn't or if Karen herself had forced him to go to bed or to eat his holographic meatloaf.

Karen had not thought that much about all this at first but after she'd found a note hidden under the pillow of her man's bed which had read; "Gotcha! Love, Krabs." she'd started to wonder.

"Uum, honey?"

No reply.

"Plankton!"

The little green copepod finally reacted to the sudden shouting of his name and gave Karen an irritated glance for a second before turning back to look into the telescope once again and answering; "What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Well, Plankton, you see..." For once Karen had difficulty getting her voice chip to conjure the right words. "You see, lately I've noticed that you've acted a bit differently. Are you sure that you're feeling okay?"

"Gee Karen, that doesn't sound like you at all, caring for my health." Plankton bit back, not answering the question.

"I don't even know why I bother..." Karen said to herself before trying a second time. "Plankton, it seems like you have some issues that you need to sort out, maybe you should try talking about them instead of sitting here just, staring at them."

"Like I'd need to talk about any issues with you, Karen." Plankton answered in a demeaning tone before he continued; "can't you see I'm only trying to come up with a new plan to steal-"

"Ha! You're not even listening, are you? I'm not telling you to sort any issues with me, yet." Karen paused. "First I think you should go sort out the issues you have with your rival that you keep staring at all day." She continued.

The little cyclops started to chuckle and turned around to face his computer wife. "Oooh Karen, what are you talking about? If there'd be any sort of problem between Mr Krabs and me it would be the fact that he has the secret recipe and I don't! There's nothing to discuss."

Despite her husbands response, Karen had been along long enough to know when he wasn't telling the whole truth, and the sudden laughter the small uneasy movements, that flicker of nervousness, it all told her that Plankton wasn't being all honest.

"I'd say that to be true too if it wasn't for the fact that I found THIS." Karen said neutrally as she let her screen change to the scan she did of the note she'd found under her husband's pillow a couple of days earlier.

She could tell after that that if Plankton had been eating anything at the moment that that image flashed up on her big screen, he would have choked on whatever he'd been eating. Or so she guessed since that was the kind of shocked face that her man displayed right now.

"You look kind of pale, honey, are you sure that you're all right?" Karen said, almost brutally.

"Plankton could feel himself sweating, his heart seemingly beating slower by each second that he stood there. "How did she find IT?" Was the only thought that crossed the little man's brain at that moment.

After enjoying a full half-minute of her husband's tormented silence Karen finally spoke again, this time almost compassionately; "Plankton, I do think you have some issues you need to sort out with Mr Krabs. You see, to me it looks like right now, the only thing that you would like to steel seems to be his heart."

Plankton slowly kneeled down in front of Karen as if doing so would make him so small that he could just disappear, but no, he was still there, and everything was real, too real and too much.

"Lies! It's all lies! He's my rival! My nemesis! My ex-friend! My-"

"-Love interest?" Karen filled in, surprised at herself that she wasn't yelling at him, but instead she felt a strange curiosity to this new and odd side of her husband.

"Yes, my- NO, NO, NO!" Sheldon shook his head as if to rid it from any wrong word or phrases concerning his absolute, definite and non-existent feelings for Eugene Krabs.

"Fine. He's not your love interest and YOU did not just spend the last 97 hours 35 minutes and 56 seconds staring at him from your telescope!" Karin said rolling her eyes on her computer screen.

"Exactly." Her husband answered, stood up and turned to go back to his earlier occupation whilst acting oblivious to his wife's eye rolling and nodding as if to justify this to be the end of their argument.

"Oh no, this is not over yet!" Karen shouted and grabbed her husband with one of her mechanical hands. "I can't stand you sitting there staring miserably even for another second! Now get out and sort things up or don't return at all!

The next thing Plankton knew he'd been tossed and locked outside of the Chum Bucket.

"Hey! Karen! ...Open up!" The little cyclops shouted while banking furiously on the big, locked and cold metal doors of the Chum Bucket. After a good 10 minutes he'd come to accept his defeat and that his W.I.F.E wasn't going to let him in.

"That's just great, locked out of my own home!" He uttered in frustration, aiming a kick at a nearby trashcan way bigger then his size, which only made his feet, hurt.

"Aoooooww!" He growled, then murmured; "... stupid trashcan... stupid Krabs."

Yes, this was all Krabs fault, it had always been Krabs fault, Plankton could still remember so well how everything had been just fine until that day when their recipe had been torn apart by their two strong wills, Krabs had always wanted the money and he had always wanted, what? Revenge. At what? Anyone who'd ever paid any attention to the little man would've said "the world". However Plankton himself knew that it was far more complex then that.

Eatherway, right now Plankton knew that he was stuck outside and that he wouldn't get back in until he'd proved that the note Karen found was in no-way related to his current stalling of stealing a certain recipe for the sake of eventual world domination.

He'd just...talk to Eugene about the note, yes. Just walk over there calmly and talk to him about it. Before the Krusty Krab closed. He wouldn't want to disturb his old rival back at his own house, besides he had never been there. If he'd do that, he would have to follow Krabs home and he was not a stalker. No, he'd face Krabs like a man, just walk in there, say hello to SpongeBob and ask him to take him in to see his boss, yeah.

"...Why am I still sitting here?" Plankton said to himself as he now sat down right where he'd started outside of the rusty doors of the Chum Bucket. All his contemplating was leading nowhere at this point and it would get dark soon.

He sighed.

"Might as well get over there and get it done with..." The little man said the first logical word for the day and started walking across the street to the doors of the Krusty Krab.

They doors didn't open; Plankton tried kicking them, no result. He then pressed his one-eyed face against the cold glass doors to look inside, the place was empty.

"Where is everybody!" The little cyclops blurted out in surprise. Almost at the same moment, he discovered a little note stuck to one of the doors, it read; "Closed early because of spring cleaning."

"Well, that makes no sense, there is no one inside doing tha-" The little green man stopped mid-sentence as he could see some faint movement further inside the restaurant. After doing some odd twists and turns between the tables, whatever was in there started to come closer to the doors where Plankton was standing, whom finally realized who it was, and the person doing the silly twirls, wearing a pair of scrub brushes tied to his feet and a pink tutu skirt around his square-shaped waist was of course...

"SpongeBob!" Plankton said, his only eye staring at the odd appearance of the sponge currently twirling around inside of the dark restaurant.

SpongeBob was singing.

"Spring-cleaning in the night~ Spring-cleaning without any liiight~ It keeps the electricity bill low~ Because Mr Krabs said sooo~~" The boy did yet another twirl before he stopped and started laughing but was interrupted by sudden loud bangs at the door.

"Nyahahah- Huh?" He slid over to the door in his scrub brushes and was slightly surprised to see who was on the other side.

"Plankton? What are you doing here?" He asked trough the glass.

"I have a question to ask, could you let me in?" Plankton asked trying to look as innocent as possible.

"Nu-uh. Krabs told me not to let anyone in besides himself!" SpongeBob declared with proud obedience.

"Makes sense..." The little cycklops rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself.

"Soo, do you know where I can find Krabs?" He then asked.

SpongeBob's face seemed to light up when hearing a question that he knew the answer to. "Well of course! His house is right down the street and to the left! You can't miss it!"

"Hey, thanks. Well, see ya later SpongeBob and good luck with... whatever you're doing." Plankton said slightly surprised at himself of how kind he'd just been to the little stupid sponge and left to find Mr Krabs' home.

"Soo... this must be it!" Plankton told himself after finding the post-box with Mr Krabs' name on it, somehow feeling a bit triumphant of finding the place before it got too dark to see.

The little green copepod stood there for a while and looked at the building shaped like an anchor that stood in front of him. So this is where he lived. Why did he feel so odd standing there looking at it? Was it because of some underlying guilt that he had not visited before, or was it because he knew that he was un-invited and un-welcome?

Plankton sighed and shook his head, unable to grasp what he was feeling right now and decided to just go up to the door of the place and find out if his rival was home.

When he reached out his arm to knock on the big door he noticed that he was shaking, and sweat soon ran down his sides, he stopped. What was this? He took some deep breaths to calm his racing heartbeats.

Then he knocked, and to make sure to not seems like the nervous wreck that he felt like, he shouted at the top of his lungs; "Hey! Krabs! Open up!" Awkward silence for a few seconds before the door suddenly swung open and a newly awakened figure of Mr Krabs could be seen standing in the doorway light from inside the house casting his shadow over Plankton who felt uneasy at the face-to-face sight of him.

Mr Krabs yawned. "What is this? Plankton?" The crab's surprised face soon turned into a distrustful one. "What are you doing here?"

Plankton was almost about to stutter but realizing that he didn't want to seem weak in front of Eugene he stood up to himself and managed to explain himself in a composed manner.

"I'm just here to talk, Eugene. Could you let me in?"

"Just here to talk are you?" Krabs scoffed before adding; "I know you, Plankton, you just want to lure me of my secret formuler!" He glanced triumphantly at the small man who was standing in his shadow at his doorstep. However when he met the cepalopods red little eye it was as if it told him that Plankton wasn't there for the formula this time.

"I told you Krabs, I'm just here to talk, could you please let me IN?" Between clenched teeth and with shifty eyes he then continued mumbling mostly to himself, "It's getting DARK outside..."

"Well, eh... " Mr Krabs scratched his head, then added. "I don't know what you want ta talk about Plankton, but make it quick! I have some Z's ta chatch..." Mr Krabs exclaimed as he led Plankton inside and shut the door behind them.

So this was Krabs', his rival's home, Plankton thought as he walked next to Krabs into the living room. It felt warm and cosy, and walking next to Krabs, he felt almost like this was something that he could have always been doing. He cast a quick glance up at Eugene who at the moment just yawned once more and paid little attention to the awkward little blushing cyclops that he was now leading over to the sofa with his claw.

Then they both sat down.

"So, Plankton. What did ya wanna talk te me about?" Mr Krabs asked and glanced down at his rival.

Plankton, thanking some kind of higher force that the warmth on his cheeks had subsided, looked up at the crab. Yes, what DID he want to talk about really? Maybe, that note, it had perhaps only been one of Mr Krabs ways of payback, maybe the words had meant nothing. Maybe Eugene had no IDEA what sort of pain they had inflicted on him. To Plankton those words had been a cruel reminder of his very first crush, and the PAIN of not accepting, NEVER accepting.

"Uuh, yeah, I wanted to say..." Plankton managed a faked smile as he continued." heh, nice weather we're having isn't it?"

He then wished he could've just smacked himself right at that moment, if he had to bail out, why couldn't his brain at least let him think of something better to say as a cover up?

"Uuuh, yeah. Sure is Plankton, sure is. " After a moment of awkward silence, Mr Krabs replied averting his gaze for a moment as if he himself didn't know what to make of the situation.

Then they sat in silence for what seemed like minutes, the only thing breaking said silence was the constant tick-tocking from a wall clock that hung somewhere in the living room.

"Hey, Plank." Mr Krabs suddenly broke the silence between the two. "I, eeh, don't know what you're trying to do but, I can tell that since you came here, this late and all, I eh... I guess I can tell that you're not here to talk 'bout the weather..." He glanced down at the other man.

For the first time Plankton's face lit up for a second and he looked up at the old crab, whom for some reason seemed to have a more gentleness in his eyes now then Plankton had ever seen, in a very long time.

"Y-you just called me by my nickname." Plankton said surprised, not realizing that he'd just stuttered.

Mr Krabs blinked for a moment, then suddenly burst out in a cheerful laughter at the bewildered expression on Plankton's face.

"Ar-harharharhar! Oh Plank, you sure are pullin' me leg! Why wouldn't I use yer nickname? After all, I was the one to give it to ya!"

Plankton couldn't believe it, even after all these years. After all the hate, all his sorrow, how could this man...take it all so lightly, to sit here and just call him by that nickname, as if they still were...

"...I never thought you'd call me by that name sincerely ever again, Eugene. Our friendship stopped so many years ago...didn't it?" Plankton's mumble faded away at the end, as big silent tears found themselves down the cyclops cheeks from his eyes.

Hearing what Plankton had just said, Mr Krabs stopped chuckling and ended up staring at the now crying Plankton. He'd never really seen his old buddy/rival been in this state before, but he suddenly felt a sting of guilt go trough his thick crab-crust.

"H-hey...Plankton?" Mr Krabs tried to no avail.

The sobs coming from the small cyclops soon filled the silent room.

Mr Krabs wasn't good with these kinds of situations. He'd tried to comfort SpongeBob once, he remembered, but even if he'd tried his best and even told the little critter that he'd add a nickel to his minimum wage in the end, it had only seemed to make the sponge feel worse.

But still, in this situation he had to do SOMETHING, the way Plankton was going on he was afraid that he'd wake up Pearl, and by Great Neptune, he did not want that to happen.

"Hey... I'm eeh...sorry. Sorry if I, err... said something, hurtful or..." Mr Krabs began while scratching his head with one of his big claws. Noticing the other man was still sobbing away he then did something he'd never think he'd ever do, he picked up Plankton, as gently as he could and hugged him.

"S'not like you te cry like this, Plank old pal." Krabs mumbled. "As for yer question earlier..." He started.

"Y-yes?" Plankton had finally stopped sobbing and poked his head up between the crabs big claws and chest. He gave Krabs the big teary puppy eyed look.

Mr Krabs felt his cheeks get a bit to hot then he'd liked them to be. "Yes, you see that err..." He blinked and looked away before he continued. "It's true, that our friendship ended long ago, ye aint wrong 'bout that... but you see I've... I've always liked ya."

When Mr Krabs looked down on the little cyclops again tears met him, but this time there was a gentle smile involved so the tears were no longer of sorrow.

To stop yet another blush from appearing on his cheeks Mr Krabs quickly exclaimed; "There! Ya happy!"

"...yes. Very happy Eugene, that means a lot to me." Plankton said and wiped away his tears. "I...I didn't think you cared." He mumbled and pressed his face yet again into Mr Krabs big chest.

"...Now don't get all mushy on me, I had enough of that back when you were me prom date! I thought you'd never let go when we danced the last dance, not to mention all the stares we got from me classmates!" Mr Krabs rambled on to keep himself from getting too used at this warm feeling he got from the other man being so close.

Then Plankton broke him off.

"Eugene."

"What?"

"...Karen found the note."

"Oh."