Spongebob twisted and turned in his bed every night. He could never sleep, even after Gary would meow him lullabies. He was constantly tormented by a single question. A quite simple question, to be honest: "what do I feel?"
He was sexually and romantically confused. Is it possible for feelings of attraction to only appear now after decades of friendship? Spongebob would think about Patrick on a constant basis, from breakfast to dinner, from his midnight snack to when he would get up to go to work.
He thought he was just bored, and his mind was playing games with him to entertain itself. But how could he be bored when he works everyday at the place he loves so much? The Krusty Krab, to him, was and still is what entertains him the most. So where were these feelings coming from? Did he have him his whole life but push them away as a result of his parents' hatred towards non-heterosexual tendencies? Did they begin to appear during puberty, and start to become perceptible years later? He didn't know, but what he wanted to know, was the true nature of those feelings.
He spent hours and hours reflecting. No answer. He tried writing down his feelings. No answer. He took Buzzfeed quizzes. No answer. He was stuck, and the only person who could help him escape was Patrick.