Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was early in the morning and a shrimp had just woken from his beauty sleep.

Shrimpo rose from his bed like a zombie, groaning and stretching his arms into the sky as he blinked to life. The shrimp looked over to his alarm clock and read its face: “05:12”. “I HATE WAKING UP EARLY!!!” Shrimpo yelled inside his head. He wouldn’t dare yell it out loud in fear of waking up the other toons, that’d just mean more trouble to worry himself with.

He stumbled his way out of bed and brushed past his punching bags as he made his way to the gate of his door, pushing it open and walking outside into the hallways.

The hallways were bleak, emptier than he’d ever seen before. I guess this is what he got for waking up at such an hour, however unintentional it may have been on his part.

Shrimpo made his way down the hall, scouring the halls around to check if anyone else was around before making his way towards the dining area to fetch himself something to eat.

He got to the dining area, expecting an empty area all for himself when he was suprisingly greeted by the Fishbowl. The one who’d tell him insufferable puns and annoy him with every waking breath until Shrimpo couldn’t handle it anymore and just left. The fishbowl was reading a book by himself at the first table, sitting alone while quietly reading to himself, immersed in the pages of a story.

“Shrimpo! Good morning! What are you doing awake at this hour?”

“I HATE YOUR QUESTIONS!! HOW IS THIS ANY OF YOUR BUSINE-”

“Something seems a little fishy, don’t ya think? Come on! Stop trouting around and tell me!”

Shrimpo looked at Finn with a look of annoyance. He had just awoken from a most wonderful nap and had just wandered into a nightmare. “Am i still dreaming?” Shrimp thought to himself.

“I DON’T KNOW!! I JUST WOKE UP EARLIER THAN EXPECTED! NO BIG DEAL!”

“Oh really? I thought you had woken up early just to see-”

Before Finn could make out another word, Shrimpo slammed the door of a cabinet open and grabbed a bag of salted chips out, completely silencing Finn and his nautical nonsense.

Shrimpo walked over to the opposite table on the chair furthest from Finn and planted himself on the seat, tearing open the bag of chips.

“...Hey! Did you kn-”

As soon as Finn started speaking, Shrimpo attempted to silence him again by loudly rustling the bag of chips and shoving them into his mouth.

“No need to be so salty! It doesn’t cost any-fin to be nice! Lets scale up the kindness for toda-”

“AS IF BEING RUDE ISN’T FREE TOO, FINN!!I HATE YOUR PUNS!!”

Shrimpo was now yelling at Finn with a mouth full of chips, the chips barely reaching his mouth and more so making a mess all over his face which rained down onto his lap with how forcefully he was shoving them into his mouth..

“Hey! Did you know that it's not healthy for shrimps to eat salty foods? It disrupts the level of salt and water inside their body and can create several issues for shrimp!”

Shrimpo pretended to not pay attention, simply continuing to crush chips against his face as loudly as possible.

“Shrimpo! I’m not going to sit here and let you kill yourself while you shove processed garbage into your throat!”

“MY EATING HABITS ARE NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! I HATE HOW YOU PRY INTO MY PERSONAL AFFAIRS!”

“Shrimpo. I’m not prying, I’m-”

Shrimpo continued to shove more chips into his face.

“...right...”
Finn went back to reading his book. Shrimpo didn’t care enough to figure out what he was reading, he was just glad that Finn stopped pestering him about what he was eating.

Shrimpo set down his bag of chips and went over to get some actual food. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out a plate with a slice of chocolate cake as he went back over to the chair that he’d claimed.

“Shrimpo... those are Cosmos leftovers. Sprout and him baked it together last night and left that piece in the fridge for today! I don’t think he’d be very pleased if he knew that you were eating his food without his permission! Stop being so shell-fish and learn how to make your own food!”

Shrimpo ignored Finn and tore open the plastic covering the cake anyway. Avoiding eye contact as much as he could with Finn as Finn gave up and went back to reading.

Shrimpo took a large bite out of the cake and slowly chewed it. He enjoyed Cosmos food but he could never actually cook himself, and he wouldn’t dare ask anything of anyone else. He HATED everyone else!

As Shrimpo chewed on his stolen food, Finn silently read through his book. Flipping page after page as Shrimpo ate away.

This annoyed Shrimpo. The incessant flipping of pages and Finn quietly reading passage after passage of fishy nonsense to himself bothered him too much for him not to do something. Shrimpo set down his half-eaten slice of cake and squeezed out of his chair, making his way over to Finn.

“HEY FINN. WHAT ARE YOU READING?”

“I thought you’d never ask! Im floundered! I’m reading the classic book by the author-”

WHAM! Shrimpo slammed Finns head against the table, making sure to not be forceful enough to cause any permanent damage but just hard enough to cause Finn some annoyance. Water poured out from Finns bowl which completely enveloped the table.

“HA HA HA HA!! SHRIMPO WINS!” Shrimpo yelled out, comedically overdoing his laugh in enjoyment, but also to upset Finn.

“Owwww... Shrimpo... That eel-y hurt...”

Even now, Finn couldn’t stop cracking jokes. This immediately quelled Shrimpos arrogant laugh and made him stare down at Finn, who was now rubbing the spot on his head that hit the table.

“And my book! Shrimpo..!”

Finn pinched his precious book and lifted it upwards towards Shrimpos face, the pages drenched in water and slowly falling apart.

“I HATE YOUR BOOK! AND I HATE YOUR-”

Before Shrimpo could finish his sentence, Finn started to cry. Water poured from his eyes as he dropped his book on the table with a wet splat. Covering his face with the two of his hands and leaning his head downwards towards the table.

For some indescribable reason, this made Shrimpo feel unbelievably horrible. He’d meant this out of bullying, sure, but he never expected this type of reaction, especially from someone like Finn who always seemed happy. He had gone too far. Shrimpo grabbed Finn's book and went to assess the damages.

“FINN! FINN! I-” Before he could finish his sentence, the cover of Finn's book ripped off from the way Shrimpo was holding it combined with how wet it was. Shrimpo finally saw what Finn was reading, it was “Moby Dick” by Melville.

“Uhm.. uh- OF COURSE! A BOOK ABOUT THE SEA! I SHOULD’VE KNOWN SOMEONE LIKE YOU WOULD BE-”

Finn continued to sob, quietly crying and wailing to himself, the sounds muffled by his hands over his face.

Shrimpo didn’t know what to do, and he definitely didn’t wanna make Finn any more upset than he already had. Shrimpo ran back to his table, grabbed the leftover bits of cake, and ran back over to Finn's table, plopping the plate in front of Finn who was currently falling apart.

“I- I CAN'T EAT THIS!” Finn shouted at Shrimpo as he looked up at him.

“F-First you ignore my advice! Then you r-ruin my book that I borrowed from Brightney! A-And now you try and offer me somebody else's food that you stole!? Talk about a reel cod-tastrophy!”

Shrimpo had no idea what to do, he had just made Finn cry and now hes just making it even worse. There was only thing he could think of, which was to run away from his problems. Something that's always worked for him, one way or another.

“G-GOTTA GO!! AWKWARD TIMES AND AWKWARD PLACES!”

Shrimpo bolted away from the dining area and stomped down into his room. He slammed the door shut as hard as he could and threw himself onto his bed, stuffing his face into his pillow.

Shrimpo had just made an absolute mess. Sure, he was a bully, but he wasn’t a monster, and he hated that he felt bad for what he had done to Finn. He’s never felt this sort of way for another toon and here he is, wallowing in his own embarrassment and guilt.

He turned himself over and faced the ceiling, which was when he realised he was holding something. He raised his hand up to his face and realised that he was holding Finn’s soaked book, the ripped cover placed shoved behind it.

“Oh gosh...”

He slammed the book down on his bedside table and threw his blanket over his body, hiding from the guilt of what he’d done. The next time he saw Finn, he had to make things right, no matter how much it was out of character for him. He pulled the sopping wet book off the table and under the blanket with him and started thinking of what he could do…

Chapter Text

Shrimpo gasped and awoke alone in a dark room. This wasn’t the first time he’d been here, he’d been here several times, though he had no idea why. Shrimpo stood to his feet and wiped himself off as his eyes began to adjust to the darkness. He was in a windowless hallway with a seemingly never ending hallway ahead of him. Whatever path forward he’d expected was blinded by complete and total darkness. But he knew this. When was the last time he’d been here? A month ago? A week ago? A few days ago? Last night? He wasn’t too sure.

Something was different this time though. Instead of being encased within an empty, windowless, never ending room, he was instead in an empty, windowless, never ending room without a roof. He stared upwards and gazed into the sky. He wasn't too sure if he was outside or if this was just another part of a much bigger complex room. He must have been outside however, as just when he started to think about the change that had occurred, it started to rain.

It began as a slow drizzle, but suddenly, it started pouring. Within seconds, the room Shrimpo was in started to flood.

“WAIT!! NO! I’M-” Shrimpo attempted to shout into the nothingness, but he was quickly silenced by the water piling up beneath his feet, quickly engulfing Shrimpos body and filling his lungs with water.

Shrimpo swam upwards and gasped for air, grasping at the sky above him when suddenly-

Shrimpo woke up, sitting up and putting his hand to his chest, vigorously panting. Shrimpo had dealt with the nightmares for as long as he could remember being in gardenview. He wouldn’t have them every night. Some nights he would dream about the outside world, sometimes he would dream about bullying people, and sometimes he would dream about nothing at all, but above all, he would dream about that room. He had no idea what any of it meant, if anything, and he didn’t care to figure out. Shrimpo just wanted to live his life like everyone else.

He ripped his blanket off which was when he noticed that he was profusely sweating. His entire bedsheet was soaked with sweat, and he could feel it running down his cheek. The second thing he noticed is that he fell asleep with Finn’s book on his stomach, now damp although still very damaged by the water.

He looked over to his clock and read the time to himself.

21:13

“I HATE OVERSLEEPING!!” He shouted. He had slept through the entire day. A few hours had passed since he encountered Finn in the dining room and he was too ashamed to leave his room, so Shrimpo decided to nap for an hour or two so that when he awoke everyone else would be up too. But apparently the world had other plans for him.

“DAMN IT!!” He said as he chucked Finn's book out of his bed, the book hitting one of his punching bags and then falling to the floor.

He was already awake, so Shrimpo figured that he at least do something with his time before he was tired enough to sleep again. He got up from his bed and walked over to his dresser. Shrimpo looked through his array of outfits and thought of what to wear... red shirt #1, red shirt #2, or red shirt #4..?

He decided to go with red shirt #2, quickly changing out of his drenched red shirt and swapping into the new one. After he’d done this he headed over to his door which was when he realised something... he had forgotten to lock his door last night. He didn't think anyone had any business in his room so he just shrugged it off for the time being, walking outside and moving up the hallway.

Shrimpo planned on going to the library today and finding a replacement copy of Finn's book. He still felt terrible for making Finn cry and destroying his book, so he figured he’d just steal a new copy from the library and drop it off at his door. On his way to the elevator he brushed past Astro and Razzle & Dazzle. He walked past them, not batting an eye although he felt them side eye him as he passed, but now was not the time to start a fight, he needed to get to the library. He walked into the elevator and pushed the button to get to the Gardenview library.

The elevator hummed for a few seconds before it finally stopped and opened at the library. He stepped out and made his way over to a random aisle. Who was the guy who wrote Finn’s book...? Mallard? Melville? Melbourne? Whatever, he just knew it was an M person, he would search the entire shelf until he found a copy of Moby Dick. He ran through the labyrinth that the toons call a library, rummaging through shelf after shelf of identical looking shelves so he could find the M section of authors. After a few minutes he had found it, he saw it at the top of a very tall bookshelf, an author with a last name beginning with an M. He wasn't tall enough to reach it, so he ran around the library again, looking for something to boost his height so he could reach books higher up.

It took Shrimpo a few minutes but he finally found a steel ladder pressed up against a random bookshelf.

“FOUND YOU!! SHRIMPO ALWAYS WINS!”

Shrimpo grabbed the ladder and started to trail it along the wooden floor of the library, creating an obnoxiously loud scraping sound which bothered even Shrimpo.

“COME ON- YOU- I HATE TALL PLACES!!”

He dragged the ladder over to the intended bookshelf and pulled himself up to the top. He scoured the shelf, shoving book after book out of the way to try and find the one he was looking for. He finished one part of the shelf and moved down to the next, continuing to scavenge when suddenly a voice rang out from behind him.

“Shrimpo? What are you doing here?! The library is closed!”

“AH! WHO GOES THER-” Out of instinct Shrimpo took a swing behind himself, but forgot that he was standing on the top of a ladder. Shrimpo realised this too late as he fell off the ladder and hit the ground with a thud.

“Ow.. that’s gotta hurt.”

Shrimpo looked upward from his resting spot.

“YOU! WHO- BRIGHTNEY?!”

“That's my name! Don’t wear it out! Is there a service I could possibly propose?” Brightney telescoped her hands and spinned around.

“LIBRARIAN. I NEED YOU TO FIND A BOOK FOR ME!”

“Awfully out of character for you to be asking help for someone. Are you in trouble?”

“NO! I HATE YOUR PESTERING! I JUST WANT TO READ.”

“Do you have a library card?”

“I DON'T NEED A LIBRARY CARD! JUST GIVE ME THE BOOK!”

“Okay, okay! What are you looking for?”

“MOBY DICK. ITS BY HUBERT WHATCHAMACALLIT. IT'S ABOUT WHALES I THIN-”

“Oh Moby Dick! Of course! Finn borrowed that a few days ago using his library card. Are you two starting a book club or something? Also it's Herman Melville.”

“NO! NO BOOK CLUB!! I HATE BOOKS! I HATE FINN! I HATE CLUBS!”

“So is it just you two reading together by yourselves? I never knew you two were close like that!”

“I'M NOT READING IT WITH THAT BUFFOON I'M READING IT BY MYSELF!”

“But you just said you hated books..?”

“...SHUT UP!”

“If you don’t tell me what or who this book is for then I don't know if I can trust you with it.”

Shrimpo rose to his feet and pointed a finger at Brightney.

“LISTEN! YOU DON’T TELL THIS TO ANYONE, OKAY? SECRET.”

“Alright! I'm all about keeping secrets! What do you want to tell me?”

“I... I DESTROYED FINN’S BOOK. I FEEL BAD AND I WANT TO SECRETLY GIVE HIM A NEW COPY!”

“Shrimpo! You destroyed library property?!”

“IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!! I NEVER MEANT TO DAMAGE IT!”

“Shrimpo, you’re going to need to pay for a replacement copy before you borrow any new books. Library policy.”

“THAT'S STUPID! I HATE YOUR POLICY! AREN’T LIBRARIES SUPPOSED TO BE FREE?!”

“Not when you damage library property, no. Even if it is accidental.”

“CAN’T YOU JUST GIVE ME IT?! DO YOU REALLY WANT TO EXTORT ALL THE TAPES OUT OF ME!!??”

“It’s library policy! If I changed it for you then I’d need to change it for everyone!”

“YOU MADE THE POLICY! IT'S DUMB!”

“It's fair! Can’t you understand that?”

“FAIR. SHMAIRE. YOU’RE SO SQUARE!”

“Shrimpo, if you keep playing tough like this then I’m never going to give this book to you. It’ll only cost you about...” Brightney put her finger to her lip and thought for a moment.

“78 tapes! I discounted it a bit for Finn's sake. Usually I’d charge you 100.”

Shrimpo gave Brightney a death stare. He could never get away with stealing the book at this rate so he just gave in. Reaching into his pockets and pulling out a few tapes.

He dug in and pulled out a few tapes, totalling to 70 tapes in value.

“COME ON! THIS IS ALL MY MONEY, BRIGHTNEY!”

“Nope! No can do, Shrimpo! It’s only fair!”

“IT’S NOT FAIR FOR FINN! I DESTROYED THE BOOK HE WAS ENJOYING AND IT’S BEEN EATING ME UP INSIDE ALL DAY! CAN'T YOU JUST DO THIS FOR ME?!”

“My, my Shrimpo! You really do care about him!”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT HIM I- I- I’M ONLY DOING THIS TO GET THIS WEIGHT OFF MY SHOULDERS!”

“But you’re blushing! Feel a little flustered?”

“I’M ALWAYS BLUSHING!”

“Not like this!”

Shrimpo stopped negotiating with Brightney for a second and put his hand up to his cheek, it felt unusually warm. He was blushing profusely.

“...OKAY I LIED. I HAVE 74 TAPES. JUST TAKE MY MONEY AND GIVE ME THE FUCKING BOOK!”

“Shhh! Language, Shrimpo! I should be scolding you for even yelling in the librar-”

“JUST FUCKING GIVE ME IT!!!”

“Okay! Okay! Come with me!”

“WHERE IS IT!?”

“You realise we have a classics section, right?”

Shrimpo stopped yelling and looked behind him. All this time while he was scrounging around for a ladder, there was a much smaller section of classic titles right behind him.

He threw his tapes at Brightney and ran over to the classics section. He brushed through the wide selection of books, throwing several books out of their slots in an attempt to find the correct book before finally he found it. He pulled Moby Dick out of the bookshelf and held it above his head with pride.

“BOOK FOUND!! SHRIMPO ALWAYS WINS!”

“Right! Right! Okay! Now get out! You’re making a mess!”

He speeded away from Brightney and ran through the catacombs of the library, running through several lines of shelves before finally reaching the elevator where he ran inside and slammed his fist on the button to the toon rooms. The elevator doors shut before humming back to life, bringing Shrimpo back to the toon rooms.

The doors came open and Shrimpo felt an immense weight fall off his back. He panted as he made his way back towards his room. He passed the front desk, pushed past the dining area which was when he saw someone going walking back to their room. Shrimpo stood still, recognizing the person in the hallway as they slowly retreated to their room. Shrimpo must not have noticed how sweaty he had become, right as they were about to enter their room Shrimpo dropped the book on the ground, causing a loud bang to echo throughout the hall. The toon entering their room snapped their head over in Shrimpos direction which was when Shrimpo ran and hid behind the desk in the toon rooms.

“Hm? Who's swimming around over there?”

The toon made their way over to where Shrimpo was and bent down to grab what was on the floor

“Oh my cod! My books returned to me! This must be a gift from the sea! Thank you!”

Finn flipped through the pages and paused at one of the final pages.

“Oh my cod!! This version even has illustrations and a glossary of nautical terms!”

Finn hugged the book and held it close. He spun around in circles out of happiness and screamed a little from sheer joy. Finn walked back over to his room with a spring in his step as Shrimpo stood motionless behind the desk. Shrimpo covered his mouth with his one hand and kept the end of his head down with his other. He could barely stop himself from alerting Finn by making a noise.

Finn entered his room and closed the door behind him and Shrimpo let out a sigh of relief. He peaked over the desk, scanned around for anyone, and quickly ran back into his room. He collapsed on his floor and let out a quiet scream. He’d done it. He’d gotten Finn his book back and Finn was happier than he had ever been. Better yet, he had no idea it was Shrimpo who did it. He stood up and made his way over to his bed to go back to sleep which was when he noticed his reflection in his mirror.

Shrimpo was blushing like a maniac, red as a tomato.

Chapter Text

Shrimpo ran bolted outside of his room and dashed over to a toons door and knocked on it with his left hand.

“...”

No response. He knocked even harder this time.

From behind the door Shrimpo heard a quiet “Wh- Wha- Hang on!”

“HURRY UP!!”

Sprout opened the door and was promptly greeted by Shrimpos angry face glaring back at him from the doorframe. Sprout looked out at the shrimp and fearing for his life, he tried to shut the door in Shrimpos face. This had little effect as Shrimpo just forced the door open and stared down at Sprout

“Shrimpo! Do you even know what time it is?! Its-” Sprout looked behind himself at his clock and back at Shrimpo. “23:27… what are you doing here?”

“HELP ME. MY HANDS HURT!” Shrimpo pushed his battered right hand into Sprouts face.

“Shrimpo! What even happened?! You look like you just had an accident at the mirror factory! Did you get into a fight with Glisten?!” Shrimpos hand was oozing blood and had sharp shards of glass jotting out of it.

“I PUNCHED MY REFLECTION.”

“Why would you do that you idiot?! I knew you were stupid but why did yo-”

“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS BERRY BOY. DON'T INSULT ME!” Shrimpo pushed Sprout aside and forced his way inside Sprouts room.

“Shrimpo, I’m not a doctor, I BAKE CAKES I DON’T UNBREAK PEOPLES BONES! This isn’t really my area of expertise.”

“YOU HEAL PEOPLE. HEAL MY HAND! I’VE SEEN YOU DO SIMILAR THINGS BEFORE!” Shrimpo shoved his bloody hand closer to Sprouts face.

Sprout pushed his hand aside which caused Shrimpo to reel back in pain. “Shrimpo, these are not even remotely similar in any way.”

Shrimpo bounced backwards and pointed a finger at Sprout. “DON’T TOUCH IT LIKE THAT, IT HURTS!! HELP ME RIGHT NOW OR ELSE I’L-”

“Or what?! You’ll punch me? Like all your other problems?”

Shrimpo felt attacked. “What did Sprout know of me? He's nothing but an ignorant peon! Him and his stupid best friend knew nothing about how I feel!” Shrimpo thought to himself.

“WHATEVER. JUST HELP ME, FRUIT!”

“You’re lucky I'm so forgiving.” Sprout grabbed Shrimpos arm and dragged him over to his bed.

“Maybe don’t go around PUNCHING THINGS and you won’t need to ask Mr. Sprout for help!” He turned Shrimpos arm around and looked at it from a few different angles to get a good look at his injured hand.

Shrimpo refused to reply to Sprout's comment, he didn’t care enough to respond to his criticisms at the moment. His hand hurt badly, he was getting lightheaded, and he needed it taken care of by someone who knew what they were doing.

“Jeez Shrimpo! You’ve really outdone yourself this time. This is lodged pretty deep into your skin. There's three massive pieces of glass sticking out of your exoskeleton? Your scales? Your-”

“I HATE YOUR METHODS! QUIT PSYCHOANALYSING ME!” Shrimpo pulled his arm back away from Sprout.

“You just asked for my help! Do you expect me to do that without taking a good look at your wound?” Sprout poked and prodded at the shards of glass stuck in Shrimpos arm.

“Maybe stop being so ignorant and me and the others would be more willing to help you in your times of need… Take a seat.” Sprout guided Shrimpo onto his bed and set him on his bottom.

“Shrimpo, you’re going to need to sit still. This might sting a little…” Sprout opened his bedside cabinet and pulled out a bandage roll.

“You might’ve had a better time with Cosmo since he knows more about this stuff than I do but I'm glad you went to me instead of him so that you didn't end up abusing him.” Sprout ripped off a bit of bandage roll using his teeth and moved his hand over to Shrimpos wound.

“Just sit still and I’ll have this all sorted out! I don’t have everything so we’re going to need to improvise a bit. I don’t got an anaesthetic.” Sprout wrapped the bandage over his hand like a glove and quickly ripped a piece of glass out of Shrimpos hand.

“OW- CRAP! IT'S AGONISING! OW OW OW!! I HATE FIRST AID!” Shrimpo flailed around, kicking his feet around and shaking his arms, accidentally hitting Sprout in the face with his left hand.

“Ow- what the fu- Shrimpo! I’m not helping you with this anymore! I refuse!” Sprout crossed his arms and turned away from Shrimpo with a disappointed expression.

“FINE! WHATEVER! I DON'T NEED HELP FROM YOU AND YOUR STUPID OVERWEIGHT BOYFRIEND ANYWAY! YOU TWO COULD BE THE LAST TOONS ON EARTH AND I’D STILL RATHER TALK TO FINN’S ANNOYING PUNNY SELF THAN EITHER OF YOU!” Shrimpo jumped off Sprouts bed and punched over a lamp resting on Sprouts table with his hand.

“I believe you’re mistaken, Shrimpo. Me and Cosmo are BFFs, we aren't dating. Also he isn't overweight! Don’t call him that when you haven’t even had a good look at this stomach!”

“I BET HE'S THE ONE WHO EATS ALL YOUR FOOD, ISN'T HE?!” Shrimpo pointed a finger at Sprout.

Sprout attempted to turn the conversation against Shrimpo.

“What's with you and Finn, huh? Finn claimed to have been the one to have eaten the leftover slice of cake me and Cosmo had in the fridge after we asked him about it. It felt strange and seemed like something he would never do! Thinking about it now, you wouldn’t have done something to make him say that on your behalf, would you?”

Shrimpo felt himself turn bright red upon hearing this information. Finn was lying to keep HIM out of trouble? OF ALL PEOPLE!? Shrimpo clenched his fist and yelled at Sprout:

“YEAH, I ATE YOUR STUPID CAKE AND I'M PROUD OF IT! IT TASTED LIKE CARP! BUT WHY WOULD I EVER ASK FINN TO LIE ON MY BEHALF?! I HATE HIM TOO!”

“How strange…” Sprout put his hand up to his chin and pondered the thought.

He lowered his hand and pointed a finger at Shrimpo. “Also wait… are you saying that our cake tasted like actual carp or are you making a pun?”

“...!” Shrimpos face became even redder and his expression grew flustered. In an attempt to sway Sprout's attention, he yanked the two remaining pieces of glass from his hand and threw them on Sprout’s floor.

“Hey, Hey! Lets not rip glass from our hands. Fine. I’ll help you, but only if you promise to tell me what’s going on between you and Finn.”

“UPON MY DEAD BODY!! I HATE HIS GUTS!!” Shrimpo screamed and lunged at Sprout with his bloody hand and started to claw at this face. Sprout pushed him backwards and Shrimpo hit the floor.

Sprout kneeled down and grabbed Shrimpos arm, raising it up and throwing the ripped piece of bandage wrap over it.

“Whatever, I’ve heard enough. Let’s just get to sleep, okay Shrimpo?” Sprout said as he wrapped the bandage over Shrimpos damaged hand.

“Just make sure that doesn't come off. I’m not too sure how fast shrimp like you heal but best wait a few days before taking it off.”

Shrimpo stood up, his face back to its usual self as he headed to the door.

“Hey Shrimpo!”

Shrimpo turned around to face sprout, his face angry as ever.

“What do you call a stupid Shrimp who's developing a friendship with a fishbowl?”

“I'M NOT LISTENING!! IT'S NOT FUNNY WHEN YOU DO IT!” Shrimpo yelled as he stopped outside Sprouts door.

“But you shrimply MUST hear my sop-fish-ticated joke-”

Shrimpo slammed the door in Sprout's face. He couldn’t bear to hear Finn's fish puns, let alone Sprouts puns and his teasing. Finn at least sounded like he knew what he was saying, while Sprout just seemed like he was throwing stuff against the wall with little care for if it actually made sense or not. Was everyone going to start making fish puns just to annoy him? Cod, this was just not his day.

Shrimpo wandered back over to his room, reaching for his doorknob and then instantly yelping back in pain, he had grabbed the handle with his sore hand, his right hand. Shrimpo was left handed anyway, this wouldn’t bother him too much. He opened the door with the correct hand and slammed the door shut, making sure to lock it this time just in case. He went over to his battered punching bags and started to hit one with his left hand. When he was sure nobody was in earshot, he started to whisper to himself.

“Stupid-” Hit “Sprout!” Hit “And-” Hit “His-” Hit “Stupid boyfriend!” He swung a jab at the punching bag using his right hand and almost instantly regretted it, dropping to a knee and gripping his right arm.

“Stupid Finn and his jokes…”

“Stupid… Finn…” Shrimpo suddenly felt exhausted and began to close his eyes right there on the floor.

“Stupid…… Finn…… and his…”

Shrimpo awoke in the dark room again, although this time it was much different than last time. The ceiling had not only returned, but it appeared much lower than it usually did in the dark room. “No chance of flooding” Shrimpo thought. The biggest change however was the dark room itself. It was no longer a never ending hallway, but was now a square room. Shrimpo could even see the walls of his enclosure, it was almost perfectly symmetrical, although it was very small. The room was about the same size of Shrimpos room in the real world. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he spun around the room, looking for something worth noting in the blank room. He began to walk around the room, feeling along the walls for a light switch or anything that he could interact with in the room. At some point, he realised that the space he inhabited felt a lot smaller now compared to when he first entered it, and there was a peculiar sound of grating stone quietly playing throughout the room. He moved to the middle of the room and stuck his arms out and he could now touch both ends of the walls without moving. A pit grew in Shrimpos stomach as he realised something was very wrong. Shrimpo suddenly felt his arms beginning to push in on themselves, feeling like they were being crushed. Shrimpo quickly lowered his arms to his side which was when he felt the ceiling coming down on him.

“GAH- WHAT'S-!?”

He fell to the floor and looked upward, the ceiling was much further down than it previously was, not to mention the walls which were quickly pressing in against his body.

“NO! NO! NO! I HATE THIS PLACE! GET ME OUT! PLEASE!”

There was nothing Shrimpo could do. He pushed his arms and legs outwards as far as they could go in an attempt to push the walls back into place. This attempt was futile as the walls continued to push inwards no matter how much strength he put behind it. Shrimpo began to scream in agony as his cries were drowned out by the sounds of bone crushing under the weight of the walls.

Chapter Text

Finn woke up with a jovial yawn as he woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. He sat up and gave his arms a good stretch to ease himself into the new day. He set his arms down and smacked the top of his clock to stop it from ringing out. He looked over to his clock to see if he had slept in, and sure enough he had not. The big hand pointed at the number 6 and the small hand pointed at 5. Finn excitedly leapt out of bed and checked in on the fishbowl on his bedside table.

“Good morning friends!” Finn yelled at the fish which caused them to swim to the front of the tank.

“How are we today? Eelin good? Eelin sassy? Great!”

Finn opened the drawer on his bedside table and grabbed a bottle of fish flakes.

“I bet you’re all reel-y hungry! Eat up, my fishy-” Finn paused.

He put his eye up to the bowl before stepping backwards in shock.

“Wait! Wait! No way!” Finn stepped forwards and raised his finger up to the bowl and started to count the number of fish using his fingers.

“Alright! We have Huckleberry, we have Nelly, Ishmaels swimming around, we have Barnaby as always, and…” he pointed his finger to a fish he didn’t recognize.

“Oh my Cod! I can't believe it!” he lifted the bowl peered over the top, his reflection staring back at him in the water.

“One of you had a baby while I was sleeping!!” Finn smiled like an idiot as he set the bowl back down on the table. He started to jump around and screamed a little in excitement.

“I’M SO PROUD! I’M-”

An angry sounding knock reverberated throughout Finn's room, the sound coming from the wall to his left. From the other side, Finn heard another toon shout: “SHUT IT, FINN! YOU’VE JUST WOKEN ME AND THE LAST THING I WANT TO HEAR RIGHT NOW IS MY TORMENTOR SPOUTING FISH PUNS!!”

It was the mirror, he always hated Finn's puns, surprisingly enough even more than Shrimpo did. Finn did his best to not mention the unintentional whale pun Glisten had made and kept it to himself and quieted down.

“Alright, alright… sorry guys but I can't have you cannibalising your new friend so…” Finn reached into the bowl and snatched the newborn out and threw it into the fishbowl that was his head.

Finn smiled and grabbed the book he received from some outer force last night and began to make his way to the door when he realised he forgot to feed his fish.

“Oh cod! I’ve almost forgotten!” he ran back over to the bowl, cracked the bottle of fish flakes open and poured a few in for his fishy friends. “There! All good!” Finn said as he left for reel this time, pushing open his door, walking out, and then closing it. Finn didn’t bother to lock it because why would he? As far as he was concerned he had no enemies.

“La-la-la-la-la!” Finn strolled through the hallway and made his way to the dining room, sliding into his favourite seat and setting his book on the table. He excitedly flipped open the front cover, dreaming of getting back into the story of the whale when he was met with something he wasn't expecting.

“What?! No! Oh no!” He jumped off his chair and covered his head with his hands. He did a double take and sure enough, he wasn't seeing things. Stamped on the inside of the cover was the text: “Property of Gardenview library”.

“No! I- I can’t! I’ve already maxed out my library card, I can't take this! This isn’t mine!” Finn’s fishy head started swarming with a million questions, “What’ll Brightney do?!”, “Where did this book really come from?!”, and similar questions.

“I gotta return this, quick! Before Brightney notices!” He swiped the book off the table and dashed to the elevator, hitting the button that brought you to the library floor. The elevator hummed and slowly started to bring Finn down, his heart racing at a million beats per minute.

The doors came open and he sprinted, he sprinted into the labyrinthian corridors of the library and made his way to the classics section. When he got there, someone else was there.

Brightney was right in-front of him with a broom, sweeping up a spider-web.

“FINN!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Brightney sounded absolutely distraught, like she was on the brink of a breakdown.

“Ah! It wasn’t me! I didn’t take the book! It was-”

“YOU’RE SPILLING WATER EVERYWHERE YOU LITTLE SH-” Brightney cut herself off before she could finish her sentence. She fell to her knees like a fallen warrior who just lost their best friend in combat and looked up at Finn.

“Oh! I’m sorry! It wasn’t on porpoise!” Finn turned around and sure enough, all of his running caused a bunch of water to leak from his tank and all over the floor, creating a trail of water which went all the way back to the elevator.

“I WAKE UP EARLY SO I CAN CLEAN UP SHRIMPOS MESS AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO TO ME?! YOU MAKE AN EVEN BIGGER ONE!! ARE YOU TWO INTENTIONALLY TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE?!” Brightney screeched at Finn, breaking from her usual calm demeanour to scold the fishbowl.

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I-I’ll help you clean it up!”

“No… it's whatever. I’m never getting all that water out of the wooden floor anyway. I’ll just wait for it to dry…” Brightney started to calm down, realising she was overreacting a little bit.

Finn looked at the ground in shame, he felt terrible for what he did and Brightney wasn’t helping that either. He knew what he did was wrong but it was an accident!

Brightney sighed and stood to her feet, looking up at Finn and pointing at him.

“I just hope you didn’t get any water on the books! You’re paying for each and every damaged book out of pocket!”

“Wait! Let’s clam down here! I’m sure i would’ve noticed this myself if i was getting water on any books!”

Brightney lowered her hand and realised that Finn was holding something in his hands. She tilted her head a bit and placed a finger to her cheek.

“What’s that you’ve got there? Finally returning one of your books?”

Finn paused, he was screwed. What was he going to say to Brightney?! What if she found out about the copy he destroyed?! It was Shrimpos fault but he could hardly blame anyone but himself for what happened, he was the one who angered Shrimpo after all so he felt responsible.

“Waaaiiit! That's the copy of Moby Dick that Shrimpo bought for you! Did he hand it to you?”

“Huh!?” Finn was confused. Did Brightney misspeak? He held the book up and took a good look at the cover. “Shrimpo wouldn’t give me anything! What are you talking about?”

“Last night! Like… 8 hours ago! He snuck in here and told me that he destroyed your library copy of that book and he gave me all his tapes so he could buy that replacement copy for you!”

The water inside Finn’s head started to bubble as his cheeks turned a darker shade of blue. He felt a little warm inside upon hearing that.

“Are you sure that was reel-y him!? There’s no way he would do any-fin like that!”

Brightney suddenly remembered what Shrimpo said, “LISTEN! YOU DON’T TELL THIS TO ANYONE, OKAY? SECRET.”. Realising she messed up, she tried to course correct what she said.

“Wait, no! Uhmm… that wasn’t him! It was- it was me! I dropped that book off because I knew you wouldn’t be able to afford a replacement copy yourself! Did I say Shrimpo? I meant to say me! I was speaking in third person!”

“Aw… I thought he had at least some-fin in that hateful heart of his…” Finn stopped bubbling and looked to the ground with a disappointed expression.

“Trying to get Shrimpo to do anything nice is a Kafkaesque task that I wouldn't wish upon anyone! He tore up my library last night looking for a book!”

“He’s not too bad, I can handle him well enough! I just wish he wasn’t such a shellfish jerk to me… also what book was he looking for?”

Brightney struggled to find a response, she didn’t know what books Shrimpo would want to read. She stuttered for a few seconds before finally blurting out: “I-I never found out! Maybe you can ask him if you’d like.”

“If I ever see him then I will! He’s mean to me but if I can find out more about him then maybe I can become his frien-”

“BRIGHTNEY!!!” from around the shelf behind Finn appeared another toon.

Finn whipped around in response to the intrusion, instantly recognizing the toon before him. “Shrimpo!? What are you doing here?!”

“FINN!?” Shrimpo yelled in surprise, his expression growing confused but still appearing undeniably angry.

“Hey, hey! Let's stop yelling! We’re in a library after all! Shrimpo, what do you seek to gain here?”

“I WANT A LIBRARY CARD!”

Finn decided to slip into the background, hiding behind Brightney and letting her speak. “But last night you said you didn’t want one!”

“WELL I WANT ONE NOW, BULBY!! CAN YOU GET ME ONE OR NOT?!”

She brushed off Shrimpos comment and turned her expression into a pleasant smile. “Well of course! Come with me and I’ll set one up just for you, Shrimpy!”. She turned around and gestured for Shrimpo to follow her, Finn moving out of the way and pressing up against a bookshelf to make room for both toons.

“DON'T CALL ME THAT, CREEP! I HATE THAT NICKNAME!” Shrimpo waddled up to Brightney and began to follow her as she turned the corner and walked elsewhere.

Finn stood there alone, holding his book in his hand. He felt a little hurt that he wasn’t invited to accompany the two toons, but whatever, getting a library card probably isn’t too interesting. He stood there for a few seconds and was preparing to leave the library and head back to the dining room when the Shrimp rounded the corner again and yelled at the fishbowl.

“YOU’RE COMING WITH ME!!”

Finn was confused, but he instantly lit up. “Oh! O-Okay! Why am I coming?”

“BRIGHTNEY MIGHT KILL ME IF I'M LEFT ALONE WITH HER! I HATE HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT THAT!”

Finn ran over to Shrimpo and followed him, having to run to catch up to Brightney who had already reached the front desk of the library, not noticing Shrimpo slipped away.

Brightney turned around and grew a little angry and confused at what was happening. “Shrimpo! What are you doing? Why is Finn here?!”

“INSURANCE POLICY!! IT’S LIKE YOUR LIBRARY POLICY BUT NOT DUMB AND NEEDLESS!”

Finn stopped in his tracks and questioned Shrimpo. “I’m- huh?! Insurance policy? What?”

Shrimpo grabbed Finn's arm and continued to run towards Brightney, almost causing Finn to fall down but he was able to catch himself before that could happen.

The two finally caught up to Brightney and Shrimpo slammed his hands down on the desk as Brightney slipped behind it. She grabbed a blank library card and a marker and looked up at Shrimpo.

“CARD!!”

“Okay, I need your name.”

“I AM SHRIMPO!”

“I could’ve guessed…” She took the cap off the marker and scribbled ‘Shrimpo’ onto the name portion of the library card. She handed it to Shrimpo who swept it out of Brightneys hand instantly.

“You could be a little less aggressive, you know! Nobodys going to take it away from you.”

“I DON’T TRUST YOU! I HATE YOUR LIGHT! TURN IT OFF!”

“I don't see what this has to do with the conversation at hand…” She was clearly very annoyed with Shrimpo at this point.

“I’ll add you into the system later. Just scan that card and the barcode on whatever book you’re borrowing on the machine by the elevator and you’ll have it borrowed on your library account. You can have up to 5 books at once and can borrow it for up to 20 days at a time. If you fail to return a book on time then you’ll be charged a few tapes for not being able to return your book. You can renew your b-”

“I DON’T GET IT! WHY IS YOUR LIBRARY SO COMPLICATED! WHAT’S A BARCODE?! WHAT’S ANY OF THIS!!”

“I’ll help you with it! It's not hard, it's quite shrimple actually!” Finn giddily chimed in.

Shrimpo slowly turned his head in response to Finn’s interjection. “...OKAY.”

“Onwards we march! Goodbye Brightney! Hope you have a whale of a day!”

Brightney collapsed, hitting her head on the desk out of annoyance and grabbing at her lampshade head with her hands.

Finn walked Shrimpo away from Brightney and down one of the labyrinthian corridors of the library. They walked for a few seconds which is when Finn decided to strike up a conversation with Shrimpo.

“Soooo, what were you looking for last night?”

Shrimpo turned his head confusedly in response to Finn’s question. “WHAT? ARE YOU TRYING TO CONFUSE ME?!”

“What?! Maybe you just don’t remember! Brightney told me that you were looking for a book last night and you tore up her library looking for it! She said you never found it though… so I was thinking I could help!”

“OH, DID SHE NOW?”

“Mhm! So what are you looking for?”

“COMICS. I LIKE COMIC BOOKS.”

“Really? Well I don’t understand why you couldn't find them then! This library has a massive comics section! It's almost impossible to miss!”

“I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU FIND IT THEN, WISE GUY!”

“Challenge accepted! Let’s fish around for it!”

They wandered through the library for a few minutes, searching shelf after shelf looking for the comics, but seemingly finding everything except for comic books. They had to have been searching for around 10 minutes before Shrimpo said something.

“DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHERE WE’RE GOING?! WE’VE BEEN WANDERING AROUND IN CIRCLES FOREVER YOU IDIOT!”

“Well that’s not very nice! We’re just a bit lost!”

“MY GUIDE IS USELESS!! YOU DON’T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT THIS LIBRARY! I SHOULD’VE JUST GOTTEN BRIGHTNEY TO HELP ME!”

“Shrimpo! You’re hurting my feelings, stop trouting! Think about the children!” Finn pointed to a random spot on the side of his head.

“...WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

“Do you not see him? Look! He’s somewhere there!” Finn stopped walking and faced Shrimpo, continuing to point at his head.

Shrimpo walked right up to Finn, looking right at Finn’s face before finally poking his face. “THAT THING?”

“Yes! I think? Do you see the fish?!”

“YES, I SEE YOUR STUPID FISH! WHAT OF IT?”

“He just came into this world earlier today! I don’t want his first days in this world to be filled with that barbarish language!"

Shrimpo leaned in closer to Finn’s face and pushed a finger against the centre of Finn’s face. “AND WHO’S HE TO JUDGE THE WAY I SPEAK?! HE'S A FISH! I HATE FISH!”

Finn leaned backwards in an attempt to get Shrimpo out of his face and replied: “Shrimpo! Back off a little, I’m going t-”

Finn lost his balance and fell backwards and was careening towards the ground. His arms flailed into the air and he closed his eyes, he was ready to accept his fate. But Finn didn’t hit the ground. He opened his eyes and found himself staring right into Shrimpos eyes who was staring right back into his, however Shrimpo looked different. Instead of Shrimpo having his usual look of anger, he looked worried. His eyes wide and his mouth agape. Finn looked down a little and saw that Shrimpos arms were wrapped around his back which prevented him from hitting the ground and hurting himself.

They stared into eachothers eyes like that for a few seconds before Shrimpo finally came back to reality. Shrimpo pulled Finn back to his feet and turned away from him, closing his eyes out of embarrassment. He felt his face becoming warmer and couldn’t risk Finn seeing what he looked like, particularly after what just happened.

“A-AHEM! BACK TO LOOKING! DON’T FALL LIKE THAT AGAIN YOU MORON!”

Shrimpo took a few steps forward but found himself face planting into a bookshelf in front of him. He rubbed his face and took a step backwards. Shrimpo opened his eyes and looked up and noticed that he was in the comics section of the library. Shrimpo let out an “Oh.” and turned around to face Finn. Finn was just staring at Shrimpo, his cheeks a dark shade of blue and the water inside his head bubbling.

“FINN?”

“...”

“FINNEGAN!!”

Finn finally snapped out of it and went back to normal, his cheeks back to their normal hue and his water becoming still again.

“Huh? Wh-Wha? That’s not my name!”

Finn looked past Shrimpo and spotted the row of comics neatly placed on the bookshelf behind him.

“Aha! Told you I could find it! Always rely on Finn the fishbowl to be your navigator!” Finn closed his eyes, pressed his thumb against his chest, and smiled at Shrimpo.

“I- *PANT* CANT- *PANT* REACH IT!!”

Finn opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of Shrimpo jumping up and down flailing his arms while desperately trying to reach a high shelf. Finn walked over and grabbed Shrimpo.

“Let me help!”

“HOW ARE YOU GOING TO HELP?! WE’RE THE SAME HEIGHT!”

“I’ve got a few ideas…” Finn set his own book down on an opposing shelf.

A few minutes passed and Shrimpo was standing on Finn’s shoulders while holding onto the edge of a shelf, stretching his arm up as far as it could go trying to reach a comic. Shrimpo was just about to grab the comic he had his eyes on when suddenly Finn collapsed and fell to the floor, bringing Shrimpo down with him who fell right on top of him, the two of them looking like an X on the floor.

“Owww-”

“FINN YOU IDIOT!! THIS IS THE THIRD TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED! THE GROUND IS SOAKED!!” Shrimpo started flailing his limbs around.

“I think I broke a rib…” Finn sat up.

“WAIT, REALLY?!”

“Nah, I eel fine! I was just clown-fishing around! But seriously, get off me you’re crushing me…”

Shrimpo stood up with Finn following soon after. Finn suddenly got an idea.

“I know! Why don’t I get on your shoulders instead? You’re stronger than I am!”

Another couple of minutes passed and we’re in the same scenario except Finn and Shrimpo have swapped places. Finn stretched his arm upwards which was when he realised he had no idea what book Shrimpo actually wanted.

“Shrimpo!! What book did you want!?”

“THE BATMAN ONE!!”

“There's several Batman comics!”

“THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS!!”

Finn stood up on his tippy toes to get additional height and tried as hard as he could to get the book. Finn grunted as he did his best to stretch his body as much as possible. Finally, Finn seized the book and pulled it out of the shelf.

“Got it!” Finn hung onto the edge of the bookshelf with one hand and waved the book around in the other. He jumped off Shrimpos shoulders and hit the ground. He turned around and held the book outwards to give it to Shrimpo. Shrimpo tried to snatch the book but at the last moment Finn swept his hand above his head, preventing Shrimpo from grabbing the book”

“GIVE.. IT… FINN!”

“Only if you’re nice about it!”

“FINN I HAVE NO MORAL QUALMS WITH PUNCHING YOU IN THE FACE RIGHT NOW!!”

“How about a fistbump?” Finn held out his opposite hand with a clenched fist.

“...WHATEVER…” Shrimpo accepted and gave Finn a light fistbump. Finn lowered his hand and Shrimpo grabbed the book from his hands.

“Finn always wins! Now let’s go get these scanned!”

Chapter Text

Shrimpo sat in the living quarters of the toon rooms, his body splayed across the big squishy couch while resting his head on a pillow carefully placed at the end of the couch. He was flipping through the pages of the book he’d borrowed from the library while lazily sipping on a can of pop that he’d stolen from Poppys room earlier that day. He was tired after his long encounter with Finn and Brightney in the library and felt like he needed a rest. A long, multiple hour long rest that he spent gatekeeping the couch from all the other toons, but a rest nonetheless. He’d been sitting undisturbed for a long time, no other toon having the strength to come over to him or having the motivation to bother him during a time where he was docile. Most of them had better things to do anyway! Why would they spend time bothering him?

Shrimpo read slowly, almost at a snail's pace. Even though it was a pretty short comic book only being around 200 pages he was still working through it after a few hours had passed. Maybe he was admiring the artwork, maybe he was spacing out, maybe he wasn’t even reading to begin with, just lost in another wandering thought. He never read aloud, always just in his mind.

Suddenly Shrimpo’s peaceful reading session was rudely interrupted by two other toons, one of them a tall and skinny toon and the other a short and somewhat chubby toon. The smaller one appeared to be holding hands with the taller toon. They both stepped into the living area and one of them spoke up:

“Hey Shrimpo! Mind making some space?”

Shrimpo took his gaze off his book and looked over to the two. It was those two annoying bakers. What were they doing here?! Nobody had bothered him before so why was he being approached now? AND BY THEM?! The audacity!!

“WHY?! SO YOU AND YOUR BOYFRIEND CAN STEAL MY PRECIOUS READING AREA? NO THANK YOU!”

Cosmo looked up at Sprout with a look of sadness, his face looking like he was on the brink of tears. Sprout looked back down at his friend and then looked back at Shrimpo, furrowing his brow and frowning to make himself look as angry as he could.

“I’m going to ignore that comment for now and kindly ask that you stop bullying me and Cosmo. All we want is to sit down and watch television together. We’re here almost every Friday at 1 PM and you’ve never sat here before. Why have you chosen to appear here now? At this hour? On this day?”

Shrimpo stretched his arms and took another sip of his soda. He closed his book and looked Sprout dead in the eye.

“I’M TIRED, I NEED MY REST! I BARELY SLEPT LAST NIGHT I THINK I DESERVE THIS AT LEAST!”

“You woke me up in the middle of the night so I could help you with your hand! I'm about as equally tired as you are.”

Sprout looked down at Cosmo and said: “Sit down on the other chair for now Cosmo, I’ll get him to move. I promise.”. Cosmo took Sprout's suggestion and sat down on the one person chair beside the couch that Shrimpo was claiming as his own.

“Like hell you will…” Shrimpo whispered under his breath, looking back down at his book and contemplating just going back to reading.

“HOW ABOUT YOU AND YOUR… YOUR…” Shrimpo passed a glance over at Cosmo and saw how upset he was becoming, Cosmo starting to get teary eyed with all the verbal abuse that Shrimpo had been dealing out to Sprout. This made Shrimpo start to choke up, Cosmo reminded Shrimpo of Finn in some weird way and- wait? What was he thinking?! Shrimpo HATED these two. He knew exactly what they were and he wasn’t a fan. He decided to finish what he was saying after all.

“YOUR FAT BOYFRIEND! HOW ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BOYFRIEND LEAVE ME ALONE AND GO FIND A DIFFERENT CORNER TO MAKE LOVE IN!?”

Cosmo looked like he was just about ready to burst out into tears, his eyes began to water as Sprout crouched down to comfort him, giving him a big hug and whispering something in his ear. While he was hugging Cosmo sprout traded a glance over to Shrimpo and forced a wide smile onto his face and began to speak through his teeth.

“Listen. Shrimpo. I helped you last night with your sore little hand when I was drop dead tired. So how's about you apologise to me and Cosmo here and let us sit here and we’ll call it even, you know?”

Shrimpo began to feel bad for what he was saying to the two toons. Cosmo hadn’t even said a word this entire conversation, he was only saying this to get Sprout to leave him alone and it wasn’t working. Shrimpo looked into Cosmos eyes and saw them filled with a few tear droplets, although no flood had started yet. Still, Shrimpo at least had to try and stand his ground.

“AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I’D LEND YOU TWO THAT SORT OF COURTESY?!”

“Well, how would you feel if I acted like this towards you and Finn? You wouldn’t like that, would you?”

Shrimpo was taken aback. What was Sprout talking about?! Shrimpo stared at Sprout with confusion and fluster, even Cosmo passed Sprout an unknowing glare. Shrimpo had to find out what he knew.

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, HUH?!”

“I’d suggest lowering your voice, Shrimpo-”

“TELL ME WHAT ON EARTH YOU MEAN, BERRYBOY!!”

“I saw you two earlier today. I saw the way you walked him back to his room with a book in both of your hands, him grinning from ear to ear. I saw the way you sighed as Finn went into his room and-”

Sprout talked on for much longer than that but Shrimpo wasn’t paying attention anymore. He was dead focused on Sprout and what he could do to make sure he never opened his mouth again. Who did he think he was? Babbling on about things he didn’t fully understand. This is why Shrimpo HATED Sprout. He hated everyone equally but Sprout was hated more equally. To Shrimpo he spoke like a pretentious optimistic know-it-all that acted like everything could be solved and that everything would be okay. He saw Sprout as his opposite, someone who challenged his beliefs. Shrimpo knew one thing, and one thing only. He wanted Sprout to shut his yap right here, RIGHT NOW. He slid off the couch and onto his feet and stared at Sprout.

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?!” Shrimpo yelled with fury as he lunged at the strawberry. Sprout may have been taller than Shrimpo, but he stood no chance against Shrimpo in terms of strength.

Shrimpo knocked Sprout to the floor and was on top of him. Shrimpo wrapped his left hand around Sprouts neck and began to squeeze it.

“W-Wai-" Sprout gasped for air. "Shrimpo! You’re-" Sprout coughed. "You’re choking me!” Sprout shouted with a raspy voice. Sprout tried to fight back against Shrimpo, using his own hands to try and push him off which proved to be ineffective against Shrimpo.

Shrimpo began wailing on Sprout with his bandaged hand, delivering weak hit after weak hit to Sprout's jaw, but still dealing a moderate amount of damage to Sprouts face as Shrimpo yelled: “YOU." He swung a punch at Sprouts cheek. "TAKE." He swung punch at Sprouts mouth. "THAT." He swung a punch down onto Sprouts face. "BACK!” Blood oozed from Sprouts mouth as he became more battered and bruised.

Shrimpo continued to fight Sprout when suddenly Shrimpo was attacked with a kick to his side. Shrimpo released his hold on Sprout and fell sideways onto the floor. He clutched his side, closing his eyes and writhing in pain from the attack dealt to his ribs. He opened his eyes and looked back over at Sprout and was greeted by Cosmo embracing Sprout as Cosmo cried into Sprouts chest.

This didn’t anger Shrimpo, it made him feel something else. Jealousy. He’d never felt envy towards another person or thing before until now. He hated how Cosmo comforted Sprout. He hated how they looked at eachother. Most of all, he hated how Sprout continued to smile after what Shrimpo had just dealt to him. Shrimpo felt as if he’d just been stabbed in the heart with a knife, with every tear falling from Cosmos eyes turning the knife even deeper into his stomach. He felt like saying something to them, but knew that anything he was capable of saying in this scenario would only make it worse for the three of them. The pain in his side from being kicked by Cosmo vanished and was replaced by the feeling of being stabbed in the heart.

Shrimpo struggled to his feet and pushed past the two toons, walking off to some unknown place neither of them cared to see or learn about.

Through tears Cosmo impishly yelled. “Sprout! Sprout! I’m so sorry! We should’ve just sat somewhere else! I’m so sorr-”

Sprout put his hand up to Cosmos face and rubbed his cheek, continuing to smile as he looked into Cosmos eyes.

“I’ll be okay- *COUGH* I’m not hurt! It’s my fault for provoking him with that Finn comment!”

“H-How can you even say that?! Don’t blame yourself so that you can excuse his actions! He verbally attacked the both of us for no reason before that!”

Cosmo looked down as he cuddled Sprout in his arms, sparing one of his hands to lift up his hoodie and reveal his stomach to Sprout.

“Do you really think what he said about me is true…?” Cosmo said sheepishly.

Sprout wrapped his arm around Cosmos neck and used it to lift himself closer to Cosmos face.

“Who cares…” Sprout said as he looked into Cosmos eyes and pushed his head closer towards Cosmos, planting a kiss on Cosmos cheek with a smile.

Chapter Text

Shrimpo sat at the writing desk in his room, angrily scribbling away at a drawing he’d been working on for about 30 minutes at that point. He drew with concentrated yet messy lines, his drawing looking very rough and scribbly with how hard he was pushing down on his pencil but despite this, Shrimpo was very proud of his art, even if by most people's standards he wasn't very good.

He sketched away, planting stroke after stroke of graphite staining the page with a dark streak. He was just about to finish drawing the legs of the character he was doodling until he heard a knock on his door. The sudden sound surprised him and caused him to accidentally draw a massive line across the page, a big streak of black jutting outwards from the character as his hand shook in surprise. Shrimpo felt reasonably angry at this disturbance, he already didn’t feel too well after his brawl with sprout which left him feeling like he'd been stabbed in the heart and now he had to deal with this. He was ready to throw appendages with whoever or whatever came in to intrude on him during his free time, not that he’s had anything actually important to do during the last couple of days. He was able to hold himself from lashing out and was planning on leaving the call unanswered but while he sat there in silence, his door swung open. He’d forgotten to lock it.

“Shrimpo!! How’s it swimming?” Finn forced his way into Shrimpos room and walked his way on in with glee, closing the door behind him.

“H-HEY!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” Shrimpo snapped his head up from his desk and looked over at Finn. He was honestly a bit relieved to see that it was Finn of all people, all of his negative thoughts seemed to go away when he was around, but Finn couldn’t know that! “DON’T YOU KNOW IT'S RUDE TO BREAK INTO SOMEONE'S HOUSE?!” Shrimpo clenched his fist.

“Well somebody's crabby this morning! I figured you would’ve locked it if you didn’t want me to come in!” Finn said joyfully as he advanced slowly towards Shrimpo.

Shrimpo wiped everything off his desk and into his bin. He didn’t want Finn to see the drawing that Finn caused him to mess up. He stood up and looked Finn in the eyes, shouting: “WHAT DO YOU WANT FISHBRAIN!!”

Finn ignored Shrimpos inquiry and bent down to grab whatever it was that Shrimpo wiped off his desk. “Hm? What’s th-”

Shrimpo grabbed Finn's arm and tried to stop him from grabbing his discarded work. “NO! STAY OUT OF THERE!!”

Finn was able to grab the paper before Shrimpo could stop him and looked at his drawing. Shrimpo realised what Finn saw and looked away out of embarrassment, still holding onto Finn's arm. Finn shook Shrimpo off and lifted it up to his face to get a better look at it, staring in confusion and awe. “What is this? Did… did you make this?”

Shrimpo stared back at Finn and furrowed his brow in anger. “IT’S BATMAN!! ARE YOU BLIND?”

Finn looked at it for a second before smiling. “It looks great! I can’t believe you made this!” The drawing looked very rough and didn’t look very accurate since Shrimpo left his book in the living quarters, but to Finn, it looked amazing, Finn not even noticing the error he'd inadvertently caused.

Shrimpo blushed a little and looked down, letting go of Finn's hand.

“I’m not really a superhero kind of fish so I didn’t recognize it!”

“WELL I'M NOT REALLY A FINN TYPE OF PERSON! SO WHY DON’T YOU HURRY UP AND GET OUT!” Shrimpo said with flustered anger as he pointed to his door.

“Oh but I need to give you something!” Shrimpo hadn’t noticed but Finn had been holding some sort of paper in his other hand. Finn lifted it up and shoved it into Shrimpo's hands.

Shrimpo stared in confusion at the page, he looked up at Finn thinking of what to say.

“WHAT IS THIS?!”

“It’s an invite! Maybe you’re the reel blind one if you can't sea that!”

“TO WHAT?!” Shrimpo looked a bit harder, it was a printed piece of paper with an image with Glisten doing some weird (and probably gay, Shrimpo thought.) pose while pointing at the camera. At the top of the page was a blurb of text which read: ‘YOU’VE BEEN INVITED TO GLISTEN’S BOY’S NIGHT SLEEPOVER!’, in the middle of the page it said: ‘GLISTENS ROOM. 10PM. BRING A FRIEND!’, and finally at the bottom there was a blank text box that was filled in with ‘Shrimpo!’ written in glittery blue handwritten letters.

“A sleepover!”

Shrimpo looked back up at Finn with confusion and anger (as usual). “...WHY ARE YOU GIVING ME THIS? WHY ISN'T THE MIRROR HANDING THIS TO ME?!”

“Glisten gave me this earlier and told me to invite a friend so I invited you! Since we’re like two fish in a pond!”

Shrimpo stood up and threw the page on the desk before pointing at Finn. “WE. ARE NOT. FRIENDS!”

“But you tolerate my gill-iant jokes!”

“I DO NOT TOLERATE THEM!!”

“Yeah, you love them!”

Shrimpo lowered his hands to his side and blushed a little more. He HATED Finn’s puns, or at least he wanted to. He turned away from Finn and crossed his arms.

“Sooooo, are you coming or what?”

Shrimpo considered for a second before turning back around. “FINE. BUT THERE BETTER BE SNACKS!!”

Finn nervously chuckled a little bit and smiled at Shrimpo. “Okay, fine, tell ya what! Tell me what snacks you like and I’ll go out and get them for you!”

Shrimpo’s face flared up and became bright red and nervous, it almost felt like steam was going to fly out of his mouth from how hot his face was. He dropped his eyes downwards and crossed his arms tighter.

“GUSHERS. I WANT GUSHERS.”

“Anything else?”

“TAKIS! GET ME TAKIS TOO! THE RED ONES!”

“Got it!” Finn shouted proudly. He spun around and made his way back to Shrimpo's door and opened it, preparing to leave.

“Can’t wait to sea you there!”

Shrimpo sat back down at his desk and turned away from Finn.

“WHATEVER!”

Chapter Text

“Ohhh, yeah! Did you see that, Shrimpo?”

Shrimpo was laying down on his back, his body splayed against a blanket which was itself strewn against a ground of rocks. He adjusted his sunglasses, sat up, and looked over at Finn. It appeared that he was at a lake with Finn, with the fishbowl looking down at him by the edge of the water.

“HUH!? SEE WHAT?” Shrimpo screamed back at Finn.

“Oh… my rock skipped across the water 5 times before sinking! I really wish you saw, it was unbel-eel-vable!”

Shrimpo didn’t say anything back to Finn, he just laid back down on the blanket and gazed up at the clouds. Finn stared for a few seconds before sighing and going back to skipping rocks, picking a rock up off the ground and tossing it across the lake like a frisbee.

“Beautiful day today, right Shrimpo?”

“...”

“Shrimpo? You didn’t fall asleep, did you?”

Shrimpo jolted upwards and looked over at Finn. “NO! I'M WIDE AWAKE!!”

Finn sighed and dropped the rock he was holding on the floor and headed over to Shrimpo. He sat down on the blanket right beside Shrimpo and looked up to the sky. Shrimpo didn’t seem to mind as he laid his head back down and looked up to the sky with Finn. They sat like that for a minute or two together before Finn pointed to the sky.

“You see that cloud?”

Shrimpo looked over to where Finn was pointing. “YUP.”

“Doesn’t it look like you!?” Finn said with enthusiasm.

Shrimpo stared for a few seconds and contemplated the shape, curvature, and many other boring things that he hated about Finn’s special cloud. It took him a little bit before he said anything, but instead of saying something about him hating clouds, he just started giggling. He laughed for a bit at the cloud and sat up to look at Finn and lowered his sunglasses, Shrimpo's face not looking as angry as it always seemed to be.

“NO! NO! IT-IT DOES NOT LOOK-” Shrimpo only got a few words in before he started to laugh hysterically and fell back down onto his back, kicking his feet in the air.

Finn laid down next to him and started to laugh along with him, the two aquatic toons sharing a laugh for a good while. Finn eventually quieted down and looked over at Shrimpo who was still laughing his head away. Shrimpo waited until he had similarly quieted down before he tilted his head sideways and looked over at Finn.

“You don’t have to be so angry all the time.” Finn said in an unusual tone. The way he spoke sounded nothing like the way he usually spoke, it was cold, distant, emotionless. Shrimpo was at a loss for words, he wanted to say something to Finn but before he could do anything, he blinked and Finn disappeared.

Shrimpo sat up, yelling “FINN?” as he looked around. No Finn to be seen. Shrimpo rose to his feet and yelled “FINN!! WHERE DID YOU GO?!” but was only greeted by his own voice in response which echoed throughout the lake . Wind blew, crickets chirped, water rippled, trees trembled, when suddenly-

Shrimpo's alarm clock blared to life, letting out a series of continuous, ear grating beeps as Shrimpo’s eyes lazily began open.

As his brain started to wake up, he realised that he was cuddling one of his pillows in between his legs. Shrimpo instantly pushed the Pillow off of him and onto the floor, scurrying away under his blanket where he laid for a few minutes, his alarm continuing to ring out obnoxiously. He only came out when he realised what he set his alarm for. Carefully, he slid his arm out from under his blanket and slammed down on it, causing it to stop screeching at him.

Shrimpo slid out from under his blanket and got out of bed. He looked at his clock to see if he’d slept in and oh cod HE HAD!! He was supposed to wake up at 9:00 PM for the party and he’d slept in all the way to 9:34! He dashed over to his mirror so he could see how he looked, which is when he saw his shattered mirror sitting on his wall, he just remembered that he’d punched out his mirror a few days ago, only a few shards of broken glass remaining where his reflection should’ve been.

“SHIT!!” Shrimpo yelled out, he had forgotten to pack things to bring to the sleepover! Finn told him that he would bring snacks but Shrimpo didn’t expect Finn to remember all that. Shrimpo wanted to bring a few cans of pop and his half eaten box of gushers that he stole from Poppy and Astro respectively. These would be his snacks that would last him throughout the night. He ran over to his bedside table and grabbed the handle of his drawer, pulling it with all his might and accidentally pulling the entire drawer out of the table, spilling everything onto the floor.

“CRAP! CARP! CRAP!” Shrimpo dropped down onto his knees and started to pack all the miscellaneous spilled things back into the drawer which was when he heard a knock at the door.

“EEK! DON’T COME IN! DON’T COM-”

The door burst open and the excited fishbowl jumped through into his room with a backpack around his back. The boy smiled and looked over at Shrimpo.

“Shrimpo!! How’s it- Wha-What? What in cods name are you doing?!”

“WHY DON’T YOU HELP ME BY CLEANING THIS UP INSTEAD OF JUST STANDING THERE YOU IDIOT!!!”

“No need to scream! Okay! Okay!” Finn ran over to Shrimpo and started to help him clean up his mess.

“Sooooo, what are you doing?”

“I’M VISITING ATLANTIS!!” Shrimpo said with a hint of annoyance and anger in his voice.

Finn gasped with excitement and shouted: “Huh?! Really!!?”

“NO YOU MORON! I'M GETTING READY FOR THE SLEEPOVER!”

“But I thought that I was the one bringin-”

“I’M BRINGING MY OWN STUFF!!!”

“B-B-But!” Finn replied with a shaky voice, he swung his bag off his back and reached into it, pulling out 3 boxes of gushers.

“I spent all day asking everyone if they had any of those sweets you wanted!” Finn looked like he was about to cry as he held the sweets up to Shrimpo's face, his eyes seeming like they were ready to start pouring. “D-Do you not want them anymore…?”

Shrimpo was surprised that Finn had actually remembered, he didn’t know whether to feel angry, flustered, embarrassed, or all three. He grabbed the sweets from Finn’s hands and tried to pull them from his grip: “N-NO! I WANT THEM!”

Finn struggled as he tried to pull them back out of Shrimpo's grip. “No! If you aren’t going to eat them then I’ll just give them back to Astro and get my tapes back!”

Shrimpo tugged back and pulled harder. “HOW MUCH DID YOU GIVE HIM FOR THESE?!”

Finn, never one to deny a challenge, continued to try and wrangle the boxes out of Shrimpo's hands. “It was a pretty penny!”

Shrimpo pulled as hard as he could and continued. “DONT. SPEND. ALL THAT MONEY ON MEEE!!” Shrimpo yelled as he finally stole the gushers from Finn’s hands, falling backwards and hitting the back of his head on his bed frame.

“Gah?! Are you okay?!” Finn said as he ran over to check on Shrimpo.

“I'm FINE!!” Shrimpo tried to wave Finn away.

“Are you sure?!” Finn began to rub the back of Shrimpo's head where he had hurt himself when he heard somebody’s voice reach his ears from outside Shrimpo's door.

“Goodness! What are you two doing?!”

Shrimpo looked up at the toon and recognized him, Shrimpo finally got a good look at himself as he saw his image reflected back at him through the mirror's face. Shrimpo immediately felt like a kid who just got caught with his hands in the cookie jar. Glisten wasn't wearing his usual clothes however, he was wearing a blue ribbon around his back instead of his usual pink one, he was wearing a navy shirt, white/blue socks, and for some inconceivable reason he seemed to have taken a cement bath.

“Ah! G-Glisten! How’s it swimming? Eelin good? Eelin-” Finn stood up straight and waved at Glisten.

“Bad! What are you two doing?! The sleepovers in 10 minutes! I went over here to check on you since I heard bloody murder and I see you two wrestling like children!”

“We aren't wrestling! I'm helping my shrimpy friend Shrimpo wit-”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever! Hurry up and get ready we’re all waiting on-”

Shrimpo stood up and yelled: “WHY ARE YOU GREY?!”

“It’s my new sleepover look! I painted it myself with some non-essential help from Rodger! Do you like it?” Glisten stepped inside, struck a flamboyant pose and looked over towards the toons, seeking a response.

“I think you look great! The colours really-”

“YOU LOOK LIKE A RUBE!! GET OUT OF MY ROOM RIGHT. NOW! YOU FA-” before Shrimpo could finish whatever remark he was going to make, Finn slammed his hand over Shrimpo’s mouth and shouted over at Glisten.

“We’ll be there soon!!”

“Mhm, you better!” Glisten replied as he skittered out of Shrimpo’s room and closed the door.

Finn looked over to Shrimpo and pulled on the tail of his head gently, looking him in the eyes with a slightly angered expression as he did.

“Shrimpo! You can’t just say that to people! Do you know what Glisten would’ve done if you’d finished your sentence?!”

“WHATEVER, FINN!” Shrimpo flailed his arms around like a child.

“Oh yeah! Check this out!” Finn pulled his bag back out and reached into it, pulling out a pink turtleneck sweater. “Look at what I got!”

Shrimpo looked at it for a few seconds, sure, he thought the shirt looked nice-ISH I GUESS, but Shrimpo felt a little upset with how Finn silenced him.

“DO I GET SOMETHING IF I ACT LIKE I CARE?!”

Finn sighed and stuffed the shirt back inside his bag. Shrimpo felt a little bad for insulting Finn’s shirt and wanted to say something to make Finn feel a little better, something he usually never did, but before Shrimpo could say anything Finn pulled another thing out of his bag.

“I got this one for you!” Finn handed Shrimpo some sort of weird black cloth.

“WHAT IS THIS?!” Shrimpo stared in confusion at this new addition to his inventory, flipping it around in his hands trying to figure out what on earth Finn had just handed him.

“It’s a hoodie, you clownfish!” Finn grabbed it back from Shrimpo and unwrapped the black fabric, revealing that it really was a hoodie. It wasn’t just any hoodie however, it was a hoodie with an awesome skull printed on the front. Finn handed it back to Shrimpo and Shrimpo accepted it, taking a good look at the hoodie.

Shrimpo blushed a little bit as his face started to warm up, feeling flustered by all the gifts Finn had been bringing him. He looked down at the hoodie and then back up at Finn.

“...WHERE ARE YOU GETTING THESE?”

“Oh! I found the pink one swimming around in the library's donation box and Astro gave that one to me after I got the gushers from him! Apparently Dandy gave it to Astro a few months ago and now he’s given it to me… it's got quite a fish-tory to it!”

Shrimpo felt a little uneasy holding this shirt now, sure, he thought the design rocked and it looked like it would fit him but DANDY!? Shrimpo hated Dandy! Granted, he hated a lot of people but Dandy especially. He hadn’t shown his face in weeks and Shrimpo was happy to keep it that way. A day without Dandy is a day worth living, he thought. Finn pulled out his pink sweater again and pulled out a matching pair of cream shorts that Shrimpo hadn’t seen yet.

“Do you wanna try it on? If we wear these to the sleepover we’ll fit right in!”

“...FINE. JUST TURN AROUND!”

“Okay!” Finn turned around so that he couldn’t see Shrimpo.

Shrimpo heard Finn start to change his clothes almost immediately. He looked over his back to make sure Finn wasn’t looking back at him and confirmed that Finn wasn't. Shrimpo slid his red shirt off and tried to stuff the hoodie on but it seemed that he couldn’t. Shrimpo tried and tried but he couldn’t get the tail of his bulbous shrimp head to fit through the top of the hoodie. Shrimpo worried that Finn would turn around and see him in this awkward scenario so he pushed harder and harder to get the hoodie over his head with no success, only managing to get himself stuck inside the hoodie like a fly in a venus flytrap.

“AHHHHHHHHH-” Shrimpo screamed as he writhed around inside a prison of his own creation, stumbling around and trying desperately not to fall as he continued to attempt to get the hoodie over his head. During Shrimpo's uphill struggle he tripped and fell on his back, losing track of where in his room he actually was.

Shrimpo kicked his feet about and he continued to wriggle around and scream. Through the holes in the fabric he saw Finn’s silhouette come up to him and try to assist him with getting the hoodie over his head as Shrimpo started to yell profanities at the fishbowl for cursing him to forever wander inside fabric purgatory. Shrimpo saw that Finn was trying to say something to Shrimpo but he wasn’t able to hear him through his own muffled screams and he didn’t care what Finn had to say, he just needed this contraption off hin. After a while, Finn gave up trying to get the hoodie over his head and just looked down at Shrimpo, putting his fingers up to his chin in a thinking gesture.

A few seconds passed as Shrimpo continued to yell at Finn when finally he figured out what to do. Hooray.

Finn flipped Shrimpo around on his stomach and reached inside the hole of the hoodie, grabbing Shrimpos head and pulling it through the hole and finally releasing Shrimpo from his fabric torture.

“There! All better!” Finn said proudly as he stuck both his hands on his side and stood heroically whilst wearing his new sleepover outfit.

Shrimpo quickly pulled the hoodie down and covered himself with it. It fit like a glove now that it was on but he was going to need to do something about that head hole. Ignoring that he’d finally gotten the hoodie on, Shrimpo was understandably gut crushingly embarrassed after what just transpired between him and Finn.

“YOU… NOBODY HEARS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE!!” Shrimpo stood up and pointed a finger at Finn.

“Why?! Is it because I saw-”

“YES!! THAT IS PRECISELY-”

“Stop speaking over me, you bass! You’re so koi!”

“I’M NOT HAVING A LOSER LIKE YOU GOING AND TELLING PEOPLE ABOUT MY-”

“Okay! Fine! I wasn’t going to tell anyone you fell over like an idiot anyway!”

Shrimpo stared a little with confusion, his face red as a strawberry and sweating profusely. “WHAT DID YOU SEE?!”

“Why do you care so much?! I wouldn’t care if you saw me like that! It's reel-y no big deal-”

Shrimpo clenched his fist and violently waved it at Finn.

“GET OUT OF MY ROOM!! NOW!!!”

“Gah! Okay! Okay! See you at the party!” Finn scooped up his bag and ran out of Shrimpo’s room.

Shrimpo stared with a petrified expression as Finn left his room when he suddenly remembered; he was going to that sleepover too!! He looked over at his clock and saw that it said 21:59 and blitzed over to the door.

“WAIT!! WAIT FOR ME!”

Chapter Text

Four toons sat around a circular mat in the centre of Glisten's room. They were unbelievably bored, occasionally staring at the clock and the door but most of their time was spent just awkwardly staring at each other, waiting for something to happen. Eventually one of them finally spoke up.

“Sooooooo, where's Finn? We’re just waiting around for him right?” said the Strawberry, his head resting on his hand as he glanced around.

“I spoke to them a few minutes ago! They’re probably on their way over here now.” replied the Mirror with a noticible hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Yeah well it's…" Sprout looked up at Glisten's clock, "they were supposed to be here 5 minutes ago! Where is he?!” he shouted back.

Glisten sighed and sat up and walked over to check on the two. “Fine! I’ll check again!” He opened the door to the hallway and was greeted by something he didn’t expect.

“It was not my fault you bass-hole!”

“IT SO WAS!!”

Shrimpo and Finn were wrestling on the hall floor, Finn on top of Shrimpo as they fought like children. Shrimpo sat there trying to push Finn off while he held an opened bottle of Poppy's cola, trying to make sure the drink didn’t spill everywhere while they tussled.

“What the fuck are you guys doing?! You were supposed to be at the sleepover 5 minutes ago!”

Finn paused his wrestling match as he looked up at Glisten and gave him an awkward smile.

“Hi Glisten! I would’ve been there already but this bottom feeder decided to run into me and-”

Shrimpo took the initiative and pushed Finn off to the side and swapped places with him, Shrimpo now being on top as they wrestled.

“DON’T CALL ME THAT YOU INSOLENT LITTLE SHI-”

“Get a bloody room! More specifically my room! GET. IN. We’re all waiting on you!” Glisten waved his arms around in anger.

“O-Okay! Shrimpo! Get o-off you’re crushing me…” Finn gave up all resistance as Shrimpo continued to pin him to the floor.

“FINE. BUT THIS WAS YOUR FAULT!!” Shrimpo released Finn from his grip and stood to his feet, looking down on the fishbowl as he laid there. They stood like that for a few seconds before Shrimpo yelled something at Finn.

“ARE YOU GONNA GET UP OR NOT!?”

“Are you not gonna help me up here?!” Finn reached his hand up towards Shrimpo.

Shrimpo grabbed Finn’s hand and helped him to his feet.

“FINE. LET’S JUST GO!” Shrimpo said as he continued to hold Finn’s hand, walking with him into Glisten's room.

“You’re lucky you haven’t flooded the entire hallway you dunce! You won't be doing any of that in my-” the two toons brushed past Glisten and into his room, completely whatever he had to say.

“Room…”

The aquatic toons slipped into Glisten's room as Shrimpo released his grip on Finn’s hand. Finn set down his bag near the door and Shrimpo set down his drink.

“Hi guys! What’s kraken?”

The three toons on the floor all stared up at them. The strawberry looked at Finn with a smile at first before turning his head and seeing Finn’s partner, causing his face to grimace in response. The strawberries own partner immediately noticed the Shrimp and looked at him with a look of terror. Glisten’s partner stared with apathy, he didn’t care.

“Hey Finn…” Sprout said, looking at Shrimpo as he did.

“Cosmo! Rodger! Sprout! Hello! Love your outfits!”

Sprout was wearing a white and orange striped scarf and an orange apron with a white diamond shape in the middle. It corresponded nicely with his ‘best friend’ Cosmos outfit which consisted of a pair of white and orange striped socks and his own orange apron, having a white star shape in the middle. Rodger appeared to be wearing a pair of blue and grey pyjamas but for some strange reason it looked like he had jumped into a pool of cement just like Glisten.

Finn walked up to the carpet and sat down crisscrossed to match the others, with Shrimpo following behind him and sitting to Finn's left. Glisten closed his door and walked back over to the carpet and sat down beside Rodger.

“Hello! Thank you to everyone who came and brought someone with them to tonight’s sleepover!” Glisten announced with a smile. “We’re about 10 minutes late buuuuut we have the entire night to ourselves so we’re really in no rush! Me and Rodgey-Bear planned out a bunch of activities for us to do so let's get started!”

Finn, Sprout, and Cosmo clapped as Glisten stood up and went over to his desk, pulling out a deck of multicoloured cards before walking back over and sitting down. After Glisten sat down, Rodger gave him a tap on the shoulder and whispered to him: “I told you not to call me that in public…”, with Glisten whispering back “Who cares! We’re in the privacy of our own room anyway…” Glisten said as he shuffled his cards.

“Okay! We’re going to play a little game of UNO™ to warm us up! I assume we all know how to play?” Glisten said as he handed out 5 cards to each attendant of the sleepover.

“Oh boy! I love UNO™!” Finn said as he was handed his cards.

After everyone had received their deck, Glisten slammed down a card in the centre of the circle. “We’re going right from the host so Rodger! You go first!”

The game quickly began, Rodger placing his card followed shortly by Sprout and then Cosmo until it was Shrimpo’s turn to play. Shrimpo looked around at everyone, the card in the middle, and then towards his own deck before turning to Finn and sheepishly asking him: “...HOW DO I PLAY THIS?”

Finn giggled a little before replying: “I’ll teach you, it's very Shrimple! Let me see your cards!”

Shrimpo turned his cards in Finn’s direction, Finn taking one look and seeing that Shrimpo had an exceptional hand.

“Oh goodness! You’ve got a great deck, Shrimpo!”

“Hey! Cheater!” Glisten yelled at Finn, Cosmo and Sprout whispering to each other while giggling in the background.

“Okay!” Finn said as he leaned over towards Shrimpo, whispering at him while pointing at his cards.

“Okay! This is a plus four, you can play this whenever you want and it makes the next player pick up four cards! So if you played this now then you would be cursing me with four extra cards. Also, playing this card allows you to change the board to any colour.”

“BUT DON’T YOU WANT MORE CARDS TO WIN?” Shrimpo whispered back.

“No! This whole game is about getting rid of all your cards so you need to do that!”

“I SEE…”

Finn moved onto Shrimpo’s next card: “This is a skip, it skips the next player's turn and prevents them from playing that round! Although you can only play it when the colour of the skip matches the colour of the card currently on the board. All cards besides the plus four work like that!”

Shrimpo nodded and Finn continued.

“This is a reverse! It reverses the direction that the game is being played in!”

Shrimpo stared at Finn in confusion, not comprehending what Finn was saying.

“Okay! So if you placed this right now then it would be Cosmos turn next instead of mine. Understood?”

“MHM…”

“Great! The next card is the plus two. It's similar to the plus four but instead of picking up four, the next player has to pick up two cards. Another difference is that the colour of the card has to be the same as the board!”

Shrimpo nodded again.

“Lastly, this is a normal card! Since this one is blue, that means you can only play it if the card on the board is blue or if the numbers match!” Finn looked down at the card currently being played and then back down at Shrimpo’s deck. “You can play that now if you want! The card being played isn’t blue but it’s a 7, the same number on your blue card!”

Shrimpo nodded and looked down at his cards, then at the card on the floor. He knew what he had to do. The toons turned away from each other and looked back down at the game.

Shrimpo reached into his deck and slammed down a card.

“I CHANGE THE COLOUR TO RED!!” Shrimpo had played the plus four. Finn had helped him but he was in this game to WIN, not to build friendship.

Finn giggled with a hint of malice in his voice and turned back towards Shrimpo.

“I knew you were going to do that… so take this, Glisten!” Finn shouted as he slammed down his own plus four. “I CHANGE THE COLOUR TO BLUE!!”

Shrimpo was shocked, Finn hadn’t told him about this! What was this sorcery?! This changes everything! Glisten stared at the deck with his poker face for a few seconds, contemplating what to do.

“Take care of this one for me, honey.” Glisten said nonchalantly and he placed down a yellow plus two. Rodger grunted and reached his hand over to the pick-up deck, grabbing 10 cards out of it. After Rodger picked up his cards, Glisten shoulder bumped him and whispered “Don’t take it personal.” whilst giving him a wink, Rodger sighing as he whispered: “Right.” in an annoyed tone.

The game continued on for a few minutes, some players whittling away their original stack of 5 cards while some ending up with more than they had originally until Shrimpo finally had one card left. This was it, Shrimpo was going to WIN!!

Shrimpo slammed down his last card and turned to Finn, yelling: “YOU CHOOSE THE COLOUR!” proudly. He’d chosen a plus four as his closing card.

Sprout and Glisten began to laugh hysterically, Cosmo slightly giggling while Rodger and Finn sat there just looking at Shrimpo. Shrimpo looked around in confusion and anger as they continued to laugh at him, Shrimpo clenching his fist as he yelled: “WHAT SO FUNNY!?”

Glisten wiped their eyes as his laughter faded. “Oh Shrimpo… hun, you can’t end the game on a special card!”

“SAYS WHO!? YOU’RE JUST MAKING STUFF UP!! YOU’RE JEALOUS OF HOW GOOD I AM AT UNO!”

Sprout’s laughter finally faded as he objected: “No- NO Shrimpo, Glisten’s right, you can’t end on-” Sprout couldn’t contain his laughter and started giggling up a storm before he could finish his sentence.

“Yeah… you can’t end on that card. Also you’re supposed to yell UNO when you get to your last card…” Cosmo said to Shrimpo.

“Oh yes, I forgot about that! Pick up two for stupidity!” Glisten yelled as he began to chuckle again.

Shrimpo, filled with pure rage, stood up and pointed down at Glisten.

“SHUT UP!! YOU’RE LYING!! YOU ALL ARE!! FINN DIDN’T TELL ME THIS, YOU’RE MAKING SHIT UP!! I HATE PLAYING UNO WITH LIARS!!”

Finn stood up too, anticipating that Shrimpo might try and start something like he did with himself in the hallway earlier.

“It’s the rules, Shrimpo! I didn’t mak-” Shrimpo kicked the cards piling up in the middle of the circle and caused them to scatter everywhere.

“NO! FUCK YOUR RULES! I’LL TELL YOU WHERE YOU CAN SHOVE YOUR RULES!!”

Finn grabbed Shrimpo’s arm and held him back, preventing him from launching forwards and assaulting Glisten. Shrimpo tried to run at the sitting Glisten as Finn held him in place, stepping backwards and digging his heels into the mat so Shrimpo couldn’t advance.

“Shrimpo!! Quit it you clown-fish!”

“YOU CAN TAKE YOUR STUPID RULES-” Shrimpo attempted to kick Glisten in the face but missed as Finn held him back.

“AND YOUR STUPID CARD GAME-” Finn hugged Shrimpo from behind as he continued to increase in strength, barely being able to hold him back from lashing out and krilling Glisten right there.

“AND YOU CAN SHOVE IT UP YOUR FAT, LYING, OBNOXIOUS, ASS!-” Shrimpo tumbled backwards as Finn wrestled him to the ground behind him. As they fought and tugged at each other the other toons sighed and began to speak.

“Glisten, no offence, but who invited him!? At this rate he’s going to ruin the whole sleepover!” Sprout shouted at Glisten, comforting Cosmo with a hug as he fidgeted with his apron, overwhelmed by the situation.

“I told Finn to invite someone but I didn’t expect him to bring SHRIMPO of all people!! What was he thinking?!”

“I just hope the next activity you have planned isn’t as competitive…”

“Don’t worry, it's going to be fun! I promise! Lets just uh…” Glisten looked back over to the two boys who were still aggressively wrestling on the floor with each other.

“Let’s just wait for them to calm down first.” Glisten said as he looked up at the clock and then back towards the others.

“Rodger! Go get the TV from the living quarters and wheel it out here!”

Rodger sighed as he stood up, walking over to the door and brushing past the two toons who were continuing to fight on the floor.

“Wait! Rodger! I’ll come help!” Sprout said, standing up and running over to Rodger, the two of them leaving the room together to go grab the television set.

Chapter Text

“Come on Rodger! Just a little bit more!”

“Professionally, my back is fuckin' killing me Sprout…”

The toons set the television back on the floor and let out a sigh. The toons were in the process of lifting the hefty box television from the living quarters and into Glisten’s room. They were around halfway done with their voyage before Rodger started to complain.

“Gosh, this is awful… How did Glisten expect you to do this by yourself?!”

Rodger sighed and dropped to his knees out of exhaustion. “No idea.”

“We can do it Rodger! Just a little bit more.”

Rodger returned to his feet and looked down upon the mechanical beast laying at his feet.

“Fine…”

The toons slipped their fingers under the tv and lifted it up once more. They carefully manoeuvred closer to Glisten’s room, taking step after step when Rodgers' grip began to fail.

“Sprout… I-I think I’m gonna-” were Rodgers last words before he doomed himself to eternal suffering, the TV slipping out of his hands and smashing down onto Rodger’s left foot.

Meanwhile back in Glisten's room everyone had calmed down after an intense wrestling match between Shrimpo and Finn resulted in Finn triumphing and Shrimpo returning back to his semi-docile state. Everyone sat where they originally had within Glisten’s circular mat while they waited for Rodger and Sprout to return from their expedition.

“SO YOU’RE THE ONE WHO LIED TO ME FINN?!”

“No! I just forgot! The last time I played UNO was weeks ago with Gigi and she cheated!”

Shrimpo pouted and crossed his arms. He could never hate Finn or stay angry at him. He hated that.

Suddenly, a cry broke out from the hallway, a scream. The type of scream you hear from people being mauled to death by a bear.

“Goodness! What was that?!” Glisten yelled.

“We better check! Something fishy is-”

“NO. Finn! You are staying here, I am not risking you breaking the TV with your stupid head!”

Finn piped down and looked at Glisten dejected.

“I WILL GO!!” Shrimpo shouted as he quickly sat up and dashed out the door, not giving anyone the chance to deny him the privilege of seeing Rodger or preferably Sprout being torn to shreds.

Shrimpo left Glisten’s room and immediately spotted the source of the scream. Rodger was writhing around on his back, holding his injured foot with both of his hands as he quietly sobbed. Sprout was there who sat beside him and tried to comfort him.

“It’s going to be okay Rodger, just let me see your foot!”

“AHHHH! Ohhhh- god IT HURTS. IT HURTS SO BADLY.” Rodger screamed as he continued to cry.

Sprout looked up and saw Shrimpo above him, the toon looking down at them with an angry expression, although he was trying his best to not burst out laughing at the sight of poor old Rodger.

“WHAT ARE YOU TOOLS DOING!?”

“Shrimpo! Get Cosmo, quickly! He knows how to deal with this stuff!”

Shrimpo ignored Sprout and tried to lift the TV, failing as it dropped back to the floor under his grip.

“What are you doing!? Get Cosmo!”

“GET COSMO YOURSELF! OR EVEN BETTER, GO BRING RODGER TO COSMO! I HATE YOUR LACK OF REASONABLE THINKING SKILLS!!” Shrimpo continued to try and lift the TV.

Shrimpo had a point, he couldn’t deny that. Sprout sighed and picked up Rodger, carrying him back into Glisten’s room.

Shrimpo was in a tricky situation. He couldn’t ask anyone for help lest he damage his image and he couldn’t just fail at the task he had assigned himself, so he decided that he would cheat a little bit.

Shrimpo leveraged the TV upwards so that he could get his hands under it and began to drag it along the floor, the TV scraping the floor underneath the carpet as he did. It was still a struggle for him to get it over but eventually he did, plopping it down in-front of Glisten’s door, but Shrimpo wasn’t done.

Shrimpo lifted the TV up slightly and slipped both his hands under it, lifting it a few inches off the ground as he tried to open Glisten’s door, only to remember he had to actually use the doorknob. Shrimpo had no free hands so he used his head, lowering his head against the doorknob and pressing down on it as the door pushed open, Shrimpo finally lifting the TV inside and setting it down on the floor.

“SHRIMPO ALWAYS WINS!!” He declared proudly.

None of the toons paid any attention to him though, all of them focused on Rodger’s injured foot. Well, everyone besides Finn, who looked at Shrimpo with a look of awe and amazement.

“Wow! You’re so strong Shrimpo!!”

Shrimpo looked over at Finn as he began to fluster, his cheeks turning a little red from the compliment.

“YEAH, WELL- IT REALLY WAS NO BIG-” Shrimpo began to say as he almost tripped over the television cable, catching himself before he could rain down onto Finn. “DEAL. IT WAS NO BIG DEAL.”

On the other side of the mat, Rodger was continuing to writhe around in pain, his foot being treated by Cosmo and Sprout.

“Rodger I know it hurts b-but just try and relax…”

“Yeah! It’ll be over before ya know it.”

Rodger just laid his head backwards in response, resting it on Glisten’s lap who was sitting beside him.

“Do you need to lay down, honey?”

“No… I’ll… I'll be-” Rodger yelped out in pain again.

Cosmo and Sprout finally finished operating on Rodger’s foot, although they couldn’t do much, just wrapping a bandage around it.

“Okay Rodger! You’ll need to keep that foot in place for as long as possible and have plenty of rest! Glisten or someone may need to carry you around until it heals.” Sprout said as he slid one of Glisten's pillows under Rodgers head, both he and Cosmo then returning to their original spots around the mat.

Rodger nodded and then looked back up at Glisten.

“Do you want me to kiss the boo-boo Rodgie?”

“Yes please…” Rodger weakly cried out.

Glisten moved to the other side and grabbed Rodger’s leg, leaning down and leaving a little peck on his foot. Glisten turned around to face the other toons and was met with glances from the entire room, all of them awkwardly staring at the scene in-front of them.

“What?! It’s medically proven that kissing somebody's wound helps it to heal faster!” Glisten shouted.

Sprout facepalmed and said: “No, I can assure you it does not…” but was drowned out by Finn, who at the same time shouted: “YOU’RE GAY!?” which caused Cosmo to giggle a little.

“NO!!” the glass toons shouted in unison.

“If you’ve got a problem then you can LEAVE!” Rodger shouted at the crowd of onlookers. “Our relationship is strictly PROFESSIONAL!!”

“Now, Now, Rodger! Let’s get back on track!” announced Glisten. He walked over to his bed and got on his knees, reaching under and pulling out a large box. Glisten picked up the box and brought it over to the circle, setting it in the middle.

“What’s in the box?” Rodger asked.

“You know what’s in it, you silly billy!”

“I'm quoting something… you wouldn’t know it you uncultured piece of-”

Glisten was annoyed by Rodger and decided to cut him off. “I borrowed these from the library, we’re going to do a vote and whichever movie is in the majority is the movie we watch!” Glisten opened the box and revealed a large stack of VHS tapes.

“Oh boy!” Finn said, immediately reaching into the box and rummaging around. Eventually Finn found a tape he recognized and grabbed it, stretching his hand out into the middle so everybody could see.

“I love this movie, I watched it with Brightney! I think we should watch this one!” Finn held up a VHS copy of the movie Spirited Away.

“Yeah well what’s the point in watching something if you’ve already seen it?” Glisten said, reaching in and shuffling through the pile of tapes.

“Because it’s fun! If I enjoyed it the first time then why can’t I watch it again and experience it again?”

“Yeah well you’d be better off spending that time watching something new that you might like even more.”

“But I like this movie…”

“Well I think we should watch this one!” Glisten finally grabbed his own tape, revealing it to the others as a VHS copy of Perfect Blue.

“Oh! Brightney likes that one a lot! I’ve never seen it though.”

“What's with you and Brightney, huh Finn? Are you two dating or something?” Glisten said mockingly.

“We are not! We’re just good friends! I’m friends with everyone in gardenview!” In the background, Sprout and Cosmo began to sift through tapes together. Shrimpo reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out his almost empty box of gushers.

“Debatable. Isn’t Brightney a fujoshi?” Glisten replied.

“A what-joshi? Is that some kind of fish?”

Glisten rolled his eyes at Finn’s response and looked over at Shrimpo, asking him a question.

“You gonna share with the class, Shrimpy?”

“DON’T CALL ME THAT YOU FAIRY!!”

Glisten giggled and crossed his arms, “I take that as a compliment!”

“IT IS NOT A COMPLIMENT!!” Shrimpo shouted with a mouthful of gushers, spitting gusher fluid everywhere.

“Can I have one?” Finn asked.

“YOU HAVE THREE BOXES TO YOURSELF!!”

“But those were meant for you!”

Shrimpo blushed a little bit before turning his head, quietly handing Finn a handful of his sweets.

“BOTH OF OURS.”

Sprout finally pulled out the movie of his choice and showed it to everyone. It was a VHS copy of the movie The Shawshank Redemption. “Let’s watch this one! Me and Cosmo watched it together a while ago during one of our sleepovers.” Cosmo gave Sprout a thumbs up and a smile.

Finn nodded in agreement. “Brightney loves that movie too! I think it’s her favourite film!”

Throughout this conversation Rodger had already picked his movie and was silently judging everybodies movie taste. He stretched his hand out to the centre of the mat to show everyone his movie. It was a copy of STALKER.

“We’re watching this.” he said blankly.

“Stalker, huh? Sounds weird. Never heard of it.”

“Of course YOU haven't, Glisten.”

“What's that supposed to mean!?”

“You’re a normie, Glisten. The only movies you’ve seen are mainstream blockbusters, you’ve never even heard of the classics.”

“Sweetie, I didn't just kiss your foot for you to be calling me a normie like this. We’re not watching your dumb arthouse films!”

“It is NOT a dumb arthouse film! Tarkovsky is a cinematic genius of a director and I would marry him if he were still alive.”

“But what about-” Glisten cut himself off, taking a look around the room and then down at Rodger. Glisten sighed and rolled his eyes. “How long is it?”

“Like three hours.”

“We are not watching that! We don’t have the time for this!”

“But Sprout’s movie is like two hours and thirty minutes!”

“Really?! Cosmo and Sprout you’re disqualified!!”

Cosmo and Sprout jumped back in confusion. “Hey! That’s not very fair! Finn’s movie is like two hours too!”

“Finn! You’re disqualified too!”

“What the carp!?”

“All of you put your tapes back in the box! Chop chop!”

Rodger looked like he was ready to bash Glisten in the head with his tape though he held himself back, reluctantly putting his tape back in the box. Sprout and Finn followed soon after.

“Shrimpo! You haven’t chosen your movie yet! Whatcha pick?”

“DO I NEED TO PICK ONE?”

“Yes! Hurry up! We’ve been here for like an hour playing UNO and arguing!”

Shrimpo pulled the box over and started to file through it, shuffling through until he saw a title that caught his eye. A Nightmare on Elm Street. The title made him feel uneasy, reminding him of the nightmares he’d been having recently. He grabbed the tape and pulled it up to his face, having a look at the cover.

The cover featured a frightened human girl laying in bed, with a pair of long and sharp knives sparkling in the light above her head. Something about the title and the cover intrigued Shrimpo, although it also frightened him, a little too much to the point where he was unsure if he actually wanted to watch it. He was ready to return the tape and choose a different film when Glisten suddenly started to speak.

“Looks like Shrimpo’s made his choice!” Glisten reached his hand out for his movie.

“HEY WAIT A MINUTE! I WAS JUST LOOKI-”

“What? Are you too much of a scaredy cat?” Glisten mocked.

“HOW OLD DO YOU THINK I AM?! I AM NOT SCARED OF ANYTHING!!”

“Then hurry up! It feels like we’ve been here foreevvveerrrr!”

Shrimpo thought for a moment before handing Glisten the movie.

“Okay guys! Raise your hand if you want to watch Perfect Blue!”

Glisten and Rodger raise their hands.

“Now raise your hand for Elm Street!”

Shrimpo, Finn, and Sprout raise their hands. Sprout looks down at Cosmo for his answer, Cosmo thinking for a moment before raising his own hands.

“This is biassed! Why does nobody wanna watch my movie?”

“I wanna watch it.”

“Yeah well you’re my… my best friend! Of course YOU want to watch it!”

“Come on lets tuna up the speed! Let's stop carping around and just watch Shrimpo’s film!”

“Ughhh fineeeee.” Glisten threw his film back into the box and went over to the tv, plugging it in, turning it on, and sliding Shrimpo’s tape into the TV, starting the film.

“Okay everyone lets get comfortable! The film is starting.” Glisten said, running over to his bed and grabbing a bunch of pillows, tossing everyone besides Shrimpo a pillow and tossing Rodger two pillows.

“...I'm not even going to ask, come on Cosmo.” Sprout set his pillow below him and sat on it. Cosmo followed behind, mimicking what Sprout did with his pillow.

“HEY WAIT A MINUTE! WHERES MY PILLOW?!”

“Not enough for you, sorry!!”

“I JUST SAW YOU GIVE RODGER TWO!!”

“Iunno whatcha talkin’ about, hun.”

Finn threw down his pillow and pat the right side of it, offering it up to Shrimpo. “We can share if you’d like!”

“Hey! wait a minute!”

“SHRIMPO ACCEPTS THIS PROPOSAL.” Shrimpo crawled over and squeezed onto the pillow with Finn, laying on his stomach, looking up at the TV, and leaning his head on his hands. Finn followed behind and sat criss crossed on the pillow.

Glisten let out a sigh of defeat, looking away from the toons and towards the TV so he could watch the movie.

The group watched through the intro of the film, occasionally someone in the group would get scared or laugh, but Shrimpo just sat there unphased, continuing to watch the film until around 15 minutes in, when the antagonist of the film finally revealed himself.

Shrimpo hadn’t seen the titular Freddy Krueger in his dreams, he knew that, but the situation the protagonist found themselves in felt all too familiar to him. Things appearing out of nowhere, being killed in horrible ways, even if he didn’t find the actual scene particularly scary, he felt like he related to the events happening in the film. Shrimpo hated that. He was barely paying attention to anything happening in the bedroom. Glisten, Sprout, Rodger, even Finn seemingly phased out of his mind as he focused intently on the film.

Shrimpo tried to shrug it off his fears until the next dream sequence happened. It was around 25 minutes into the movie and the film's protagonist Nancy Thompson falling asleep in class and journeying into Freddy’s dream world. This one frightened Shrimpo even more as he spotted more things that were familiar to him in his dreams.

By the time the credits rolled, Shrimpo felt terrified, he didn’t even notice that he’d been hugging Finn for the last 10 minutes of the film’s 90 minute runtime. After the credits finished Shrimpo finally snapped back to his normal self and realised what he looked like, releasing his hold on Finn.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“What are YOU doing, Shrimpo??”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING?”

“I was too scared! That film was as scary as an anglerfish!”

Glisten and Rodger were unaffected by the film, just sitting there bored. Cosmo and Sprout were in a similar situation to Finn and Shrimpo, Cosmo shivering as Sprout comforted him.

“I’m not impressed.” Rodger said.

“Snooozzzeeefessstt! I know this is a sleepover but that almost put me TO sleep!” Glisten yelled out.

“How can you even say that?! I had a great time watching it! You guys know nothing about reel cinema!”

“I thought it was pretty good! Not too sure about Cosmo though.” Sprout continued to comfort Cosmo as he quivered in Sprouts arms.

Shrimpo put on his brave face but in reality he was really shaken by the film. Again, he never saw Freddy Krueger or any other sort of film monster in any of his nightmares but the scenarios and themes in the film were deeply relatable for him, even if he wasn’t a human like the stars in the movie. Despite all that however, the film inspired him. The main character fighting against their tormentor in the face of impossibility resonated with him, even if the ending sort of ruined everything preceding it in his eyes.

“...LET'S JUST MOVE ONTO THE NEXT ACTIVITY. GLISTEN!!”

“Okayyy, but I’m not wheeling that thing out in the morning. Shrimpo! You can do it!”

“I AM NOT DOING THAT! YOU CANNOT FORCE ME TO-”

Glisten let out an obnoxiously loud yawn to silence Shrimpo. “Alright, next activity! Everyone gathered around. We’re going to tell scary stories!”

Chapter Text

The group huddled around their usual spot in Glisten’s room, all sources of light snuffed out aside from a flashlight in the middle of the mat, illuminating the group ever so slightly.

“Alright! Who wants to go first?” Glisten pleasantly began.

“I’ll go first.” Rodger replied. He picked up the flashlight and positioned it under his face.

“This one is called… The Room on Gardenview Lane…” Rodger said in an ominous tone. Everyone looked on in intrigue, waiting for him to continue.

“Once upon a time, there was a toon named Navy. He was a photography camera. One day, Navy moved into a Room at the bottom of this very housing complex.”

“When Navy moved in, he noticed 3 large gashes in the middle of his floor that nobody had told him about, splinters of wood protruding upwards from the floor, as if a creature had struck its claw through his floor from below.”

This was the first time during the whole sleepover that Rodger showed genuine enthusiasm, seemingly enjoying telling this story to the toons and watching their reactions.

“As he continued to live there, things started to change…’

“Small things, but it evolved as the months went on. Objects would go missing, things would be moved. Sure, he could chalk all these up to a bad memory, until something undeniably unusual occurred.”

“On his way back home from a walk, he couldn’t find his door to his room. He searched up and down the hall but no matter what he could never find his distinct door. That was until he noticed something. In place of his usual wooden door, now stood a metal door with a wooden handle.”

“He opened this door and sure enough, it led into his usual room, nothing strange about it.”

“Why did that happen!? This story is awfully fishy…”

“I'm gettin to it!”

“He asked all around the day care centre and nobody would admit to the strange act of carpentry. Eventually he just gave up and returned to his room for the night, which was when he noticed something strange.”

“In the middle of his room was a large spiral staircase, about the size of this mat right here.” Rodger pointed his flashlight at the mat that everyone had gathered around. “It led downward for what seemed like forever, all attempts at illuminating it being swallowed by the abyss of the staircase.”

Rodger paused.

“SO? WHAT HAPPENED NEXT!?”

“He went down it. Step after step, Navy descended into the void in his floor, using the flash on his camera head to illuminate the dark abyss.”

“He walked for around 5 minutes before he finally reached the bottom and was met with a windowless and doorless room. The room was identical to his own aside from the fact that it was almost completely empty, aside from the fact that all of his missing stuff was there, neatly organised in a line against the wall.”

“Woaaahhh… Spooky!” Sprout said.

“Haha, I'm not finished.”

“As they continued to illuminate the room with their flashes, items started to disappear, with each camera flash causing another item to vanish. Eventually nothing was left.”

“You wanna know why you’ve never heard of Navy: The Camera toon?”

“w-why..?” Cosmo asked worriedly.

“Because the room swallowed him. Gone without a trace. He illuminated the room one last time and the staircase disappeared. He lived out his last days alone in darkness.”

Finn, Cosmo, Sprout, and Glisten clapped for a short moment as Rodger finished his story.

“Wow, that's really scary! Imagine being gilled and frying in a room like that! Consider me spooked!”

Shrimpo winced a little.

“It all really happened too. You can ask Dancifer.”

“Which one of you wants to go next?” Glisten asked the group.

Finn raised his hand: “Oh! Me! I’ve got a krilliant story!”

“Alright Finn just… tone down on the jokes please. They sorta make the story less enjoyable.” Glisten replied.

Finn looked at his feet sadly. “Aww.. okay…” Finn sheepishly grabbed Rodgers flashlight and began to tell his story.

“Let me weave you a tale… I call this one…” Finn turned off the light and paused.

“THE ATROCITY!!” He turned the light back on and struck a scary face.

“Very spooky.” Rodger said.

“Okay so, there was this ship back in the day called The Atrocity, manned by the mighty captain Newo! Newo the Lobster! She was a toon too! In fact the entire ship was composed of toons!”

“There are toons outside of Gardenview?”

“LET HIM TELL THE STORY, SPROUT!!”

Sprout pouted and crossed his arms.

“Anyways, on this dark and stormy night, they were transporting two pieces of cargo. One was a highly explosive barrel, and the other was a secret piece of luggage that only the owner of the ship knew about.”

“About an hour in, Newo went to the storage area to take a smoke since they’d be in for a long cruise, smoking a cigarette and then returning to pilot the ship. HOWEVER!! As they put out their cigarette, a piece of her cigarette ash blew past and flew into the explosive barrel!”

“That’s not very realistic.”

“What about your story Rodger? You and your disappearing staircases!” Sprout shouted.

“It’s called magical realism.”

“WHAT DID THE METAL DOOR AND FLOOR GASHES HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?!”

“It’s up to interpretation, you media illiterate numbnuts. Find your own meaning.”

“IT’S A CAMPFIRE STORY, NOT A 700 PAGE COLLEGE ESSAY!!”

“Can we just let Finn continue his fucking story…” Glisten said, clearly annoyed by the couple of brats arguing in his room.

“I… I don’t know if I want to anymore…” Finn frowned and set the light down at his feet.

“FINISH!!!”

“Eek! Okay!” Finn picked the flashlight back up and continued.

“Okay so, Newo went back up to their captain's deck thingy and they began to sail again until suddenly, a large boom roared out from the lowest level of the ship! Newo rushed over to check it out herself but by then it was too late! An explosion came flying up from below deck and split the boat in two! Causing the ship to begin sinking with everyone on it!”

“Everyone began sinking, it was really scary! The people caught in the middle were completely demolished, the lifeboats were destroyed, and the people who did survive were either doomed to drown or freeze to death in the ocean! Everyone except for Newo! Newo snuck away into the kitchen and hid inside the ship's industrial freezer, barely having any room to fit while she locked herself inside it!!”

“Oh dear…” Glisten whispered to himself.

"Newo sat for a while, sinking and sinking until finally they felt themselves land at the bottom of the ocean… They planned on opening the door and swimming to the top when rescue arrived, but they found out that they couldn’t open the freezer door and that she was stuck in total darkness!”

“Eventually, they either succumbed to lack of oxygen or died of cold, nobody found her body! Everybody on The Atrocity died and none of them ever figured out what the secret on their ship was!”

“I liked it! Cool story Finn!”

“Y-Yeah, it was cool… that sounds very scary…”

Shrimpo wanted to announce his hatred for the story, but he didn’t have the heart to ruin Finn’s moment, instead choosing to remain silent.

“That wasn’t really scary, it was much more disturbing. Finn where did you hear about this, honey? You been watching too many crime podcasts?”

“N-No? It was in a book that me, Brightney, Dazzle, and Astro read at our club once!”

“Again, you and Brightney!”

“H-Hey, I have a story…” Cosmo announced.

Glisten clapped a little. “Wooo! Okay Finn, your turn with the light is over!” He snatched it away from Finn and shoved it into Cosmo’s hands. Sprout gave him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up as he began to tell his story.

“O-Okay… this one is called… umm…” He looked back up to Sprout and then back at the others.

“This is called The Metamorphosis…”

“It begins with this toon, h-his name was Zander… Zander the Nickel… He was a normal toon who did toon things, h-he had a loving partner named Hunter, he was a dime.”

“One day, Z-Zander woke up and he… he suddenly transformed into a cockroach!”

Sprout gave Cosmo an exaggerated shocked reaction. “Oh my goodness!!”

“Y-You don’t need to do that…”

“Oh but I know you like it when I do that!” Sprout rubbed his partners back. Cosmo blushed a little and continued his story.

“A-Anyways… no- he wasn’t a cockroach, he was just a bug… any bug… you can choose to imagine him as whatever bug you want him to be…”

“He wasn’t a toon bug either, he was just a massive bug. He found out that none of his clothes fit anymore, he couldn’t drive his car, and worst of all… he couldn’t go to work in the morning. He could still talk and think like his old self but for some odd reason he’d become something he wasn’t…”

“Zander hid himself all day from his lover until his partner finally found him, hiding under the blankets of his bed and- oh bother, I forgot to tell you that they both lived together…” Cosmo looked down in disappointment. Sprout continued to comfort him and gave him a hug, telling him: “You can do this, take your time.” Cosmo gave him a nod and continued.

“Okay so… his lover found him and he asked, ‘Zander, what has happened to you?’, and Z-Zander replied ‘I don’t know… I’m so sorry.’ H-Hunter couldn’t see him cry, but he could tell that Zander was very upset. Hunter wrapped his arm around his new bug partner. ‘Oh Zander, do not apologise for things that aren’t your fault, I will always love you as long as you continue to be you.’ a-and then… and then…”

“I don’t remember… I’m sorry…”

“Interesting story.”

Sprout wiped imaginary tears from his face and gave Cosmo a pat on the back. “It’s okay, you did your best.”

Finn clapped and also wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. “Beautiful story Cosmo! That ones a reel tearjerker!”

Shrimpo thought the story was stupid but despite that it still made him feel a little emotional, he didn’t know why but he felt like he related to Zander in some weird way.

“Alright! We’ll do one more before we head off to bed. Who wants to go next?”

“...”

“Nobody? Alright.” Glisten stood up and turned around to face his bed. “I guess we’re heading to bed early. Get yourselves comfortab-”

“I HAVE A STORY!!!”

Glisten turned around annoyed, he was so ready to just go to sleep but now he had to listen to SHRIMPO tell his little story. He sat back down and sighed. “Alright Shrimpo, go ahead.” He grabbed the flashlight from Cosmo and handed it to Shrimpo.

Despite Shrimpo getting angry and lashing out at the others, he had a fun night. He still felt bad for what he did to Sprout and Cosmo and felt like he owed them something as an apology and for all the fun he had, so he’d tell them a story he hadn’t told anyone. He stood up, walked into the middle of the circle, and began to speak.

“ALRIGHT. THIS STORY BEGINS WITH A SHRIMP! A SHRIMP TOON!!”

“Seems awfully egotistical to base this story around yourself, isn’t it Shrimpo?” Glisten butted in.

“THIS STORY ISN’T ABOUT SHRIMPO!! IT’S A VERY DIFFERENT SHRIMP.”

Glisten rolled their eyes and continued to listen.

“THE SHRIMP AWOKE IN A DARK ROOM, NO IDEA OF HIS SURROUNDINGS OR WHERE HE WAS. HIS EYES ADJUSTED TO THE DARKNESS AND HE WAS IN A DARK WINDOWLESS ROOM, SIMILAR TO THE ROOM THAT HE LIVED IN EVERY DAY IN GARDENVIEW. THIS SHRIMPO- SHRIMP ALSO HAPPENED TO LIVE IN GARDENVIEW JUST LIKE US!”

“Are you stealing the windowless rooms from my story, Shrimpo?”

“YOU DIDN’T INVENT THE CONCEPT OF WINDOWLESS ROOMS!! THIS HAPPENED BEFORE YOUR DUMB NONSENSE STAIRCASE STORY!!”

Rodger looked over to Glisten. “Can you carry me back to bed? I'm tired and my foot still hurts.”

Glisten stood up and grabbed Rodger, carrying him in the bridal position to his bed and setting him down on it. “Oh you poor thing…”

“HEY! I'M TELLING MY STORY HERE!”

“Keep going, we’re all listening, I'm sure. Except for Rodgy-boo, he’s in bed.”

Shrimpo sighed and continued.

“ALRIGHT, CONTINUING. THE SHRIMP BEGAN TO LOOK AROUND THE ROOM FOR ANYTHING, A LIGHTSWITCH, A DOOR, ANYTHING! WHICH WAS WHEN HE FOUND A MIRROR.”

Shrimpo hadn’t realised it, but he began to grow faint. His vision began to fog up and he grew tired.

"The shrimp approached the mirror and glanced at it, seeing his reflection but something was wrong. His reflection was distorted, he was covered in some sort of black fluid, he was hunched over, and his eyes were bright red. The shrimp went over to touch the reflection but the mirror shattered… creating… crea- creat-...”

Eventually, his body gave up all resistance and he fell down face first. He probably would’ve passed out right there if Finn hadn’t caught him before he hit the ground, catching Shrimpo as he fell down, tramping Finn and forcing him to fall down onto his back, Shrimpo's head laying on Finn’s chest as he laid on the floor.

“You okay Shrimpo?!”

Shrimpo groaned before muttering Finn’s name, he was dead tired and felt like he was going to pass out at any moment. Finn allowed Shrimpo to continue to lay on him, grabbing his pillow and positioning it so that both of them were able to fit on it.

“Psst! Sprout! Can you toss me my blanket? I have one in my bag!”

Sprout nodded and crawled over to the door, grabbing Finn’s bag, unzipping it, and pulling out Finn’s rolled up blanket, tossing it over to him.

Finn caught it and threw it over himself and Shrimpo who was practically asleep at this point, making sure not to cover Shrimpo’s head as he rested.

“Thanks! Are you and Cosmo going to sleep now tuna?”

“I don’t get it Finn.”

“Because Tuna is a fish and it sounds like too! You guys are no fun!”

Sprout crawled back over and asked Cosmo. Cosmo thought for a moment before nodding.

“Here! You can share with me and Shrimpo!” Finn grabbed his blanket and rotated it, providing less room for his body but in turn allowing it to stretch further over to Cosmo and Sprout.

Sprout and Cosmo threw down their own pillows and sat down on the floor with Shrimpo and Finn. They sat down and threw the blankets over themselves.

“...Thanks Finn…”

“Yeah! Thanks big time.”

“No problem!” Finn gave them a happy smile, rubbing Shrimpo’s head as he began to drift off to sleep.

“Actually Finn, we’ve been meaning to tell you something.” Sprout looked down at Cosmo and then looked back over to Finn.

“Are the other three asleep..?”

Glisten and Rodger were both passed out in bed together, in a similar position to Finn and Shrimpo but in a much more disorganised manor, Glisten laying directly across Rodger and creating a plus shape with their bodies.

“I think so! So, what’s the big catch!?”

“There is no catch…?”

“You guys know nothing about jokes.” Finn said disappointedly.

“Anyways, uhmm… You’re actually the first person we’re telling about this.” Sprout rubbed Cosmo’s head in a similar fashion to how Finn was to Shrimpo.

“Me and Cosmo, we’re uhmm…”

“We’re dating.”

Finn’s eyes lit up and a wide grin grew on his face.

“Oh my cod! Really?! I’m so happy for you!!”

Sprout did a shushing motion with his lips.

“Shhh! You’re gonna wake them up!”

“Everything makes a lot more sense now… I’m not the sharpest hook in the toolbox.”

Finn gave the two of them a thumbs up.

“Don’t worry! Your secret's safe with me!”

The two partners gave Finn a smile, the two of them proceeding to snuggle up close to each other.

Sprout looked back up at Finn.

“You know, people will think you and Shrimpo are in love.” Sprout said, teasing Finn.

Sprout awaited a response.

“...Finn?”

Finn had fallen asleep, Shrimpo on his stomach with the two of them drifting off into their dreams.

Chapter Text

“Oh my cod! Shrimpo! Look!” Finn grabbed his friend's hand and pointed towards something he’d spotted.

Shrimpo looked over, Finn was pointing to a shark enclosure, they were at an aquarium together, although strangely they seemed to be the only people there.

“Isn't that so cool!?”

“I MEAN… I GUESS SO?”

Finn dragged Shrimpo over to the shark exhibit and pressed his face up against the glass, creating a loud clinking sound as his head collided with the glass

“Shrimpo! Do you not know what this is!?”

Shrimpo pressed his own face up to the glass and stared up at the shark at the top of the tank.

“IT’S A SHARK. I KNOW WHAT A SHARK IS FINN!!”

“Not just any shark! It’s a great white shark!”

Shrimpo stared up at it for a few seconds before looking back at Finn.

“HOW CAN YOU TELL IT'S A GREAT WHITE?”

“Look at those fins! They’re massive! I’ve never been more certain about something!”

“IT’S A LITTLE COOL…”

“Great whites are infamously hard to contain so I can't believe I get to see one in person!” Finn was exploding with excitement, a big toothy grin on his face as he looked up at the shark swimming around in its tank.

“You know, great whites are my favourite type of fish, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen one in person!”

Shrimpo nodded.

Finn turned his head to look at Shrimpo. “What's your favourite fish?”

“I HATE THE OCEAN… BUT IF I HAD TO PICK ONE THEN…”

“SHRIMP!”

Finn giggled a little. “Shrimpo! Shrimp aren’t fish, silly! They’re crustaceans!”

“I KNOW THAT!! I-”

Shrimpo crossed his arms.

“OKAY WELL GREAT WHITE SHARKS ARE MY FAVOURITE TOO THEN.”

Finn smiled and looked back up at the shark.

“I’ve been to this aquarium hundreds of times but I’ve never seen a great white here! I need to appreciate this while it lasts… it could be gone at any minute now…”

“Hey! Maybe when we get back to gardenview, we can ask Shelly if we can borrow her archaeology camera! I’d love to get a photo of us together with the shark!!”

Shrimpo looked up at the shark. To him it was nothing special, but if it made Finn happy then he would stay there for as long as he wanted. The minutes passed as they looked at the shark swim around its enclosure, Shrimpo couldn’t explain why but he enjoyed this activity.

The two lost track of time as they watched the shark, neither of them aware how much time had passed since they began. It could’ve been a few minutes, it could've been a few hours, it didn’t matter to them.

“But you know…” Finn looked over to Shrimpo, Shrimpo returning the glance shortly after.

“As happy as I am to see this shark…”

“I'm even happier that I was able to see it with you!” Finn smiled.

Shrimpo looked away, his cheeks beginning to turn red as a smile started to form on his face.

Finn noticed this almost instantly, blurting out: “You should smile more, Shrimpo!”

He hadn’t even realised that he was smiling until Finn had pointed it out. Embarrassed, he returned to his usual blank angry expression.

“WHY!?”

“Just a thought!” Finn turned his head back to the shark, Shrimpo mimicking him a moment later.

“Hey Shrimpo! What do you call a stupid shrimp?”

“I DON’T KNOW. WHAT DO YOU CALL A STUPID SHRIMP?”

“A shrimpleton!”

Shrimpo almost let a giggle out, but he couldn’t let Finn know that he enjoyed his jokes! He snapped his head over in Finn's direction and said: “THAT JOKE IS STUPID! GET BETTER AT-”

Shrimpo turned his head and Finn was gone, nowhere to be seen.

“Finn…?” He reached his hand out to where Finn was standing, feeling nothing there as the empty space would suggest.

“FINN!?” He screamed.

He looked back up at the shark enclosure and the shark was gone, an empty tank remaining in its place.

“FINN! FINN!!” Shrimpo ran past all the other fish exhibits they’d been to throughout the day. He checked the jellyfish exhibit, no Finn and strangely enough no jellyfish. He checked the octopus, the seahorses, the penguins, cod, he looked everywhere, but never found anything but empty tanks. No fish and no Finn.

Finally, he approached the Shrimp exhibit and found that the water was black, seemingly nothing inside it. Shrimpo approached it and as he did, he noticed something weird, in his reflection. His reflection was wrong, it looked identical to the one he’d seen in the mirror. He was covered in some sort of weird black fluid, and his eyes were red. Shrimpo reached out to touch his reflection. As Shrimpo pressed his fingers up against the glass, he felt a sharp pain reverberate through his body.

Shrimpo fell to the floor in agony, writhing around on his side as he clawed at his face. Shrimpo tried to scream but nothing came out of his mouth, Shrimpo feeling like his mouth was covered.

Shrimpo began to silently cry, wrapping his arms around his body as he closed his eyes.

As Shrimpo closed his eyes, the pain disappeared. He waited a few seconds before opening them again, finding himself back at the sleepover. He looked over to Glisten’s clock at the bottom of the room. It was 08:13.

He looked to his right and saw Cosmo and Sprout fast asleep, the two of them resting their heads against each other like two cats cuddling. They seemed to be at peace, the two of them preciously smiling in their slumber.

The reflective pair were off in the left hand corner of the room, having trailed the blanket off the bed and all the way over to the corner where they finally fell asleep. Glisten was laying on top of Rodger like a passed out cat, one arm dangling down Rodgers side and the other poking up at his face. Rodger himself had an arm around Glisten's back, his face smothered in tons of weird markings, the colour identical to the blue Glisten had covering his lips and over his eyes. How strange.

Shrimpo continued to look around but for some reason he couldn’t see Finn anywhere. He started to panic, wondering if his dream had come true. Tears began to form in his eyes as he frantically glanced around the room, worried he’d lost Finn forever. Shrimpo was about to burst out into tears when he looked up and saw Finn’s big dopey face right in-front of him. In fact, Shrimpo had actually been laying on Finn’s chest the whole time, mistaking it for a pillow when he first woke up.

Shrimpo was glad Finn was okay but he didn’t understand how he ended up in his position. He looked at Finn’s sleeping face for a few seconds as he started to cry. Shrimpo didn't want to cry, he wanted to hold it all in like the strong boy he was, but the tears just started to pour and pour. He wrapped his arms around Finn and pulled him into a tight hug, Shrimpo burying his face into Finn’s chest as he sobbed into his sweater.

The previous night had gotten to Shrimpo, even if he didn’t want to admit it. He was never good at socialising and he wasn’t proud of how he acted towards the others. All the events of the previous night: screaming at the others, watching that scary movie, listening to the others scary stories, and the recent bad dreams, it all came crumbling down on him at once, Shrimpo finally letting down his shield for a moment as he continued to cry.

He didn’t want to lose Finn, not again. His dreams made him realise how much he actually tolerated him and when Finn was taken away from him, he was always upset. He squeezed Finn closer and ensnared him in an inescapable bear hug.

The world could hate him like he hated everything, the world could bully him with nightmares, but the world would never take Finn away from him. He would never lose Finn, he would make sure of it, he promised, holding Finn as tight as he possibly could.

He didn’t just tolerate Finn, he liked him. He hated that he liked him, he hated how Finn continued to forgive him despite everything he’d done, he hated how Finn selfless he was, he hated how Finn bought him gifts, but most of all, he hated how he could never tell Finn how he felt. He hated how he constantly pushed Finn away and denied how he felt towards him, and he hated how Finn would always push back.

He hated how he was acting, holding Finn in a death grip as he cried. In fact, he was going to stop doing what he was doing right now, Shrimpo told himself. But he couldn’t. He held onto Finn for dear life, afraid that if he let go that he would slip away and disappear forever.

He stayed like that for a while, continuing to cry into Finn’s chest but all good things must come to an end. A long time had passed and the well of tears had dried up, but Shrimpo continued to persist, laying his head on Finn’s soaking wet chest as he snored away. Shrimpo continued to cuddle Finn but not as tight as he had previously, afraid that he’d suffocate Finn to death if he were to go on any longer.

Eventually, Finn woke up. He yawned to life and looked down onto his chest.

“Ahh… what- Huh!? Shrimpo? You’re awake?”

Shrimpo looked up at Finn slowly, almost having fallen back to sleep.

“O-Oh- Umm… Ye-YEAH! OF COURSE I'M AWAKE.”

“What... are you doing there, Shrimpo? I thought you would have sailed off somewhere else after you woke up. How long have you been awake for?”

“A WHILE… WHY DIDN’T YOU MOVE ME YOURSELF!?”

“I didn’t wanna wake you up!”

Shrimpo blushed a little bit, looking down and continuing to hug Finn. They sat there in silence for a little bit, Finn looking down on Shrimpo when Shrimpo spoke again.

“CAN WE STAY LIKE THIS FOR A LITTLE LONGER…?”

Finn wrapped his own arms around Shrimpo and embraced him.

“We can stay here for as long as you’d like!” Finn smiled.

Chapter Text

“COME ON FINN, JUST A LITTLE MORE!”

“Shrimmmpooooo, my arms are krilling me!” Finn dropped the large TV on the floor and sat down for a moment to rest. The two toons had left Glisten’s room alone after spending around an hour in there together.

“Maybe we should just wake the others up so they can-”

“FINE. I'LL DO IT MYSELF! SIT BACK AND BE AMAZED FINN, YOU’RE ABOUT TO WATCH A MASTER AT WORK HERE!”

Shrimpo grunted and tried to lift the TV all by himself, raising it a few inches off the ground before dropping it back down out of exhaustion.

“Shrimpo, I'm not letting you flounder around like this and having you end up like Rodger! I’ll help you just gimme a minute.”

“RODGER HAS SCOLIOSIS AND HE’S STUPID! I'M NOT LIKE HIM, I’M SHRIMPO!!” He tried to pick up the TV by himself again, dropping it again a few seconds later.

“Well ‘Shrimpo’ needs to learn to take better care of himself before he gets himself krilled!” Finn stood back up and prepared to help Shrimpo.

Shrimpo crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at Finn. The two of them picked the TV back up and continued to carry it back to its original location. Eventually after a few pauses, they were able to get the TV back to where it was, placing it back on top of the table. The two of them sighing as they celebrated their accomplishment.

“Wooh! Fist bump!” Finn raised his fist at the other toon, Shrimpo reciprocating the fist bump shortly after.

Shrimpo paused for a moment, looking at Finn and then asking him something: “HEY FINN?”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“HOW DO YOU KEEP ALL THAT WATER FROM SPILLING OUT?” he tapped Finn’s head.

“Oh! I actually have a little see-through glass lid! It keeps the water from getting everywhere!” he proudly admitted.

“REALLY!?” Shrimpo shoved his hand into Finn’s head, his hand becoming drenched in water as it sank into the water.

“Eek! I don’t have it on right now, it feels uncomfortable when I wear it for long periods of time! I usually only wear it when I sleep. I forgot to wear it last night though…”

Shrimpo pulled his hand out and Finn paused for a moment as he realised something.

“Wait… did I wake you up last night!?”

“NO. I WOKE UP MYSELF.”

“Oh… because my shirt was sopping wet when I woke up. I assumed that it must’ve leaked out during my sleep!”

Shrimpo shoved his hand back inside and swished it around inside Finn’s head.

“H-H-Hey! That feels funny! Cut it out!”

“HEY FINN.”

Finn giggled a little bit but eventually blurted out: “W-What?”

“I HAVE AN IDEA.”

Elsewhere, Sprout was finally waking up in Glisten's room. His eyes shuttered open as he looked around the room, immediately spotting the absence of the two marine toons. He looked over at Cosmo in-front of him and smiled, looking into his peaceful eyes as he slowly breathed in and out in his sleep.

He put his hand up to Cosmo’s cheek, gently squeezing it as he slept. “Wakey wakey sleepy head!” but Sprout was met with no response, just the continued breaths of Cosmo.

He shook Cosmo a little bit which finally woke him, Cosmo slowly opening his eyes as he looked up at his partner.

“O-Oh… h-h-hello Sprout…!”

Sprout bent his head down and gave Cosmo a soft kiss on his lips. “Good mornin, sweetie!”

“I-I told you not to call me that in p-public…” Cosmo blushed, his eyes darting away from Sprout in embarrassment.

“Oh but you love it when I call you that! Besides, it’s just you and me here.”

“W-What about Finn and the others…?”

“We might wanna be quiet… Glisten and Rodger are sleeping over there. No idea where the fishy boys went.” Sprout pet the top of Cosmo’s head.

“Oh… okay…” He looked back up at Sprout and smiled.

“And that means we get this blanket all to ourselves!” Sprout pulled the excess piece Finn and Shrimpo had been sleeping on over to him and flipped it so that it covered both he and his boyfriend, the two of them smiling as they held each other.

Meanwhile, Shrimpo had just lifted himself on top of the kitchen counter, Finn standing in-front of him as he climbed aboard.

“You sure about this…?”

“I’VE NEVER BEEN MORE SURE. IT’S GOING TO BE AWESOME.” he crawled over to the sink and grabbed a bottle of orange concentrate that was laying there.

“READY?”

“Ready! Hit me Shrimpo!”

Shrimpo flicked the lid off the bottle, dumping the entire bottle into Finn’s head, slowly turning the water in his bowl orange.

Finn contemplated, putting his finger up to his lip for a moment.

“Hmmm… doesn’t feel as weird as I thought it would!”

Shrimpo sat on the edge and pushed himself back into the floor, slamming the cupboard open and grabbing out a straw.

Back with the bakers, they had just gotten up and were at the gate of Glisten’s door, preparing to leave. Cosmo held Finn’s blanket and Sprout had his backpack.

“Alright, let’s go find him!”

Cosmo nodded as they left the room, the two of them glancing around as they looked for Finn.

“Now where could he- aha!” Sprout pointed as he saw the tail of Shrimpo’s head sticking over the back of the sofa in the living area. “He probably knows!”

“A-Are you sure…? Last time you two were alone together he… you know…”

“He didn’t do much at the sleepover.” Sprout dipped down and whispered into Cosmo’s ear: “Keep this between you and me but I think he feels a little bad for what he did…not that he’ll even listen to us.”

“A-Are you nuts?! That’s Shrimpo! H-He's not exactly the most upstanding guy…”

Sprout already had begun making his way over to Shrimpo before Cosmo had finished his sentence. Cosmo quickly scurried over to his partner's side so he wouldn’t get left behind.

“Hey Shrimpo! Have you-” Sprout paused.

“Sprout! Wait up! W-Wait for…” Cosmo paused.

To their surprise, Finn was already there, just not where they’d expected him to be. Shrimpo was sitting there on the couch, Finn was sitting on the floor, Finn’s head between Shrimpo’s legs as Shrimpo sucked the liquid out of his head with a straw, the two of them sitting there and watching TV together as they shared a box of gushers.

The two of them snapped their heads over to the couple.

“Oh! Hi guys! What’s kraken?” Finn smiled at them.

“Finn, why are you orange!?”

“It was Shrimpo’s idea!” he said happily.

“What is this!? What is any of this?! What are you two doing!?” Sprout waved his arms around in confusion, pointing at Finn, then at Shrimpo, then at the both of them, and then back at Finn.

“WE’RE WATCHING TV!!” Shrimpo took another sip out of Finn’s head, Finn giggling a little bit as he did. “Haha, that tickles!”

Cosmo stood there, absolutely petrified, having flashbacks to the last time he and Shrimpo interacted at the couch. Sprout just stood in confusion.

“Oh hey! You guys are coming on!” Finn looked back over at the TV.

“Finn what are you-” Sprout was interrupted as the show they were watching switched from Vee’s game show to Sprout and Cosmos cooking show, the theme song blasting out of the TV at an obnoxiously loud volume. “Ah.”

“Come sit down with us! Everyone’s already out elsewhere or asleep.”

“I’m not too sure if there’s enough room on the couch for us.”

“Shrimpo! Can you squeeze over a little bit?”

Shrimpo shifted over to the side, Finn’s head knocking about between Shrimpo’s legs for a moment as he did.

The two looked on in astonishment. Had Shrimpo really just done that just because Finn asked? No insults? No struggle? No anything? They were fascinated. Sprout brushed aside his confusion for a moment and sat down, but Cosmo continued to stand there.

“COSMO!” Shrimpo yelled.

“Eek! C-Coming!” Cosmo ran over and sat beside Sprout.

Finn looked over at Sprout, spotting something in his hands.

“What’s that you’ve got in your fins?”

“Oh, uhhm. You left this in Glisten’s room. Thought we’d bring it back to you.” Sprout passed Finn’s bag down to him.

Finn smiled. “You’re so thoughtful! Thanks for shelling out your time to go and catch this for me!” He tried to open his bag but as he was about to Shrimpo took a huge sip out of his head, causing Finn to flinch and giggle a little.

“Be gentle! I’m not going anywhere!”

“BUT WHAT IF YOU DO!?” Shrimpo gripped the inner rim of Finn’s head with both of his hands, staring down at him from above.

“But I won’t and I can’t! You’ve got me in a headlock here!”

Shrimpo sighed a little, letting go of Finn and taking a softer sip.

Finn opened up his bag and pulled out his unopened bags of takis. “We never even ate these! Do you guys want some?” He offered the snacks to the three on the couch.

Shrimpo tried to snatch them out of Finn’s hand but Finn pulled away at the last second. “Shrimpo! We talked about this!”

“FINE…” Shrimpo blushed slightly, reaching down slowly as Finn offered them back up, Shrimpo grabbing a bag.

“N-No thanks, I-I can’t handle spicy food…”

“I’m okay but thanks!”

Finn smiled and shoved the takis back into his bag.

“Do you mind if we use this for a little?” Sprout grabbed Finn’s blanket from Cosmos hands.

“Oh just keep it! I’ve got tons-” Finn shoved a gusher into his mouth. “I’ve got tons of them! I got a lot of backup blankets in case I soak one!”

“Thanks!” Sprout threw the blanket over himself and Cosmo.

The three sat there watching Cosmo and Sprout teach children how to bake a lemon meringue pie, occasionally being interrupted by the sound of Shrimpo drinking or eating a taki. A few minutes passed before anyone said anything.

“I wish I had a show. If I did then I could teach children all about fishies and crustaceans and sharks and other cool things!”

“Maybe you could join Shelly one day! She’s always digging up fish bones and such.”

“Oh! I have an idea! Why don’t me and Shrimpo come on your show and we can have a cook off!”

“I CAN’T COOK!!”

“Hmmm… I don't know…” Sprout looked over at the angry Shrimpo and then down at Finn.

“Well I could always ask the producers! I’m sure Dandy wouldn’t mind!”

“Yay! And then you can star-fish on my show whenever I get my one!”

“I wouldn’t be so optimistic. I think we have enough shows on the air.”

“Awww… okay…” Finn said sadly.

The show came to an end and Sprout got up, grabbing Cosmo’s hand and signalling for him to get up too.

“We’ll be on our way now. See ya!”

“Bye bye! Sea ya!”

“BYE.”

Finn waved at them as they walked past and headed towards the kitchen.

“Shrimpo! Wave with me!”

Shrimpo reluctantly raised his hand and waved a tiny bit as the two left, Cosmo and Sprout returning a wave back at them before disappearing behind a corner.

“Do you wanna help me get all this juice outta here Shrimpo?”

“I'M NOT FINISHED!!!” Shrimpo took a massive sip from Finn’s head, causing Finn to start laughing hysterically.

“H-Hey! I said cut it out! That feels funny!” The liquid in Finn’s head started to bubble slightly.

“NEVER!!” Shrimpo said as he began to smile, taking another drink from Finn’s head.

Finn continued to laugh, the bubbling increasing with every passing second. “Seriously- C-Cut it-” Finn continued to laugh.

“That’s it! You’re banned from drinking from my head! L-Let me out!” Finn grabbed Shrimpo’s legs and broke himself out of his captor's grasp, pushing Shrimpo’s legs out of the way with all his might and standing up before Shrimpo could get ahold of his head again.

“I’M STILL THIRSTY!!” Shrimpo held his straw in his hands angrily.

“You’ve had enough! I’m not having you vomitting everywhere or drowning yourself!”

Shrimpo stood up and pouted, crossing his arms as he spoke. “Hmph! YOU ARE THE WORST FRIEND EVER!!”

Finn’s eyes lit up like fireworks and his iconic toothy grin appeared on his face. “So we’re really friends?!”

Shrimpo blushed, realising his Freudian slip and feeling extremely embarrassed.

“F-FINE!! WE’RE FRIENDS! YOU DON’T TELL ANYONE THIS!” he shouted, Shrimpo’s face bright red from how flustered he was.

“Hooray!” Finn jumped and threw his arms in the air out of joy.

“My first favour that I must ask as your new friend is that you help me clean this OJ out of my head before it rots!”

“F-FINE!”

Chapter Text

Brightney sat at the library's front desk, typing away at her computer and documenting all the books, clothes, and other miscellaneous things into the library’s system she’d gotten over the past few days. She’d been at it for a few hours and her computer's clock read “22:13”, although to her delight, she wasn't alone. Just a few feet away dusting off a nearby bookshelf was her favourite cyan tissue box, standing on top of a stepping stool with her trusty feather duster.

“Make sure to get the top shelves Tisha.”

“On it!” Tisha smiled at her friend, giving her a thumbs up and then returning to dust off the bookshelf.

“And make sure you aren’t overworking yourself.”

“I could say the same about you! ” Tisha giggled a little.

Brightney smiled and blushed a tiny bit before returning to her work. A few minutes passed as the two of them worked away, but eventually Brightney spoke up again.

“Hey Tisha, did you hear about the sleepover?”

Tisha turned around, momentarily pausing her work to answer Brightney's inquiry.

“Hm? What sleepover?”

“The boy’s sleepover... Glisten told me about it. Apparently he and a few of the other boys had a sleepover last night and it went pretty well.”

“Oh! Uhmmm… I guess that’s cool! Good for him!”

Brightney sighed, “I just wish I was invited… It seems like I'm always missing out on things despite all the work I do around here. He even took a bunch of tapes from my library for it!” She said angrily with a hint of exhaustion in her voice.

Tisha jumped down and walked over to her friend's side, setting her hand on Brightneys shoulder.

“Hey, I wasn’t invited either! None of us were, don’t feel too bad about it!”

Brightney slammed her head down on her keyboard, “I guess so…”

Tisha grabbed Brightney’s head, lifting it off the keyboard and looking into her eyes with a smile.

“Don’t be like that now Brightney! Tell ya what, why don't we host our own girls night sleepover? No boys allowed!”

Brightney smiled a little and pointed her eyes down at the ground.

Brightney slowly blinked and responded in a tired tone, “Yeah… that would be nice…”

“And we can invite all our friends! We can invite Shelly, we can invite Vee, we can invite Gigi, we can invite Teagan, we can invite anyone you’d like!”

Brightney giggled. “Now that would make me feel better!”

“Why don’t you take a rest, Brights? You seem awfully tired.” Tisha grabbed her friend's hand.

“I’ll be f-fine…” Brightney tried to pull herself out of Tishas grasp and back to her computer.

Tisha persisted and pulled Brightney out of her chair and onto her feet.

“Come on! I’m not letting you kill yourself in all this work! We’re going to the rest area!”

“Only if you come with m-me.” Brightney sounded like she was ready to pass out, slurring her speech and slowly blinking at Tisha.

Tisha wrapped her arm around Brightney’s back to prevent her from tripping over. 

“Okay, just follow me!” Tisha began guiding Brightney. They travelled through the maze of the library, passing shelf after shelf until they finally found the reading area, consisting of 6 bean bag chairs surrounding a circular mat.

Tisha escorted Brightney over to one of the bean bags and gently set her down on it, Tisha herself plopping herself on the seat beside Brightney.

“Come onn Teesh, why don't you sit with me?” Brightney tiredly questioned.

“You need rest! I’m not going to take up space on your seat, that’s highly impractical.”

“Come onnnnnn , please?”

“How many hours of sleep did you get last night B?”

Brightney shrugged.

“Gosh, you tell me not to overwork myself yet here you are! I’m worried about you Brights!”

“The library needs me! Who else is going to manage all of these books?”

“The library can wait! If you die of exhaustion how will the library ever function?”

Brightney sighed. “Can you at least get me a pillow..?”

“Sure thing! Just remember what I told you, please.” Tisha rose to her feet, walking past Brightney when she was suddenly yanked by her dress and pulled downwards, falling down on top of Brightney and the bean bag she laid upon.

“Kidding! You’re my pillow!” Brightney gave Tisha a big hug, lazily wrapping her arms around her and cuddling her.

Tisha blushed before pouting and blurting out: “Brightney, you need to rest-”

“Trust me. I prefer it like this. If the library can wait for me then it can wait for you too!” She continued to hug Tisha.

“If you say so…” Tisha sighed and reciprocated the cuddle, wrapping her own arms warmly around Brightney.

“You promise me you won’t overwork yourself?”

“I’m not so sure about that…”

“Brights! If you keep acting like this then I'm never going to cuddle with you again.” She said with a serious tone.

“TeeTee! Come on! If-” Brightney was cut off when she was rudely interrupted by another person that came running into the rest area. Tisha and Brightney glanced over as the blue fishbowl dashed in wearing his tacky little pink sweater, holding a book in his hands.

“Brightney! I need you to-”

Tisha looked up at Finn and did a shushing motion over her lips.

“Finn! Pipe down a little, BriBri is trying to-”

“No, it's fine… What do you want, Finn?”

Tisha looked down at Brightney in disappointment as Finn began to speak.

“I’d like to buy this book, I have all my tapes with me!”

“Give it…” Brightney took one of her arms off Tisha and extended it outwards at Finn.

Finn handed Brightney the book. Brightney tried to open it but wasn’t able to with only one hand.

“Teesh, could you open this for me?”

Tisha reached her hand over and flipped open the book. Brightney moved her eyes up and down the page until she finally spotted the green flower library stamp printed on the first page.

“Finn, you know comics are more expensive than novels right?”

“Sea-riously!? ” He said in astonishment.

“Yeah, your little Batman book is gonna cost you a little more.” She gave it back to Finn. “Why don’t you just borrow it?”

“It’s really important! How much is it gonna cost?”

“150 tapes.”

Finn’s eyes lit up with shock and with sadness, there was no way he could afford that.

“Ummm… I’ve got 129, that’s all I have.”

“No can do Finn, library policy.”

“Come on, there’s gotta be some-fin I can do!”

Brightney sighed and looked up at Tisha, Tisha giving her a nod. Brightney looked back at Finn.

“Okay Finn! If you assist me for an hour or two tomorrow then I’ll let you take that book with you for your 129 tapes!”

Finn’s eyes immediately lit up, the fishbowl smiling and nodding at Brightney

“Deal! Where do I leave my tapes?”

“Just leave them on the desk.”

“Catch! Thanks, Brightney! Sea ya later alligator!” Finn waved and ran back to where he came from.

Tisha had zoned out of that entire conversation, but quickly came to a harrowing realisation.

“Wait… Finn! He could be getting water everywhere!” Tisha tried to get up but was quickly pulled back down by Brightney with a hug.

“At least wait until I fall asleep!”

The two of them blushed, Tisha giving in and continuing to lay down and cuddle with Brightney.

Finn returned to the elevator, giddily hopping in and hitting the button to go back to the toon rooms.

The elevator reached its destination and Finn skipped out, making his way over to a certain room and knocking on the door, the occupant opening the door shortly after.

“ Heyyyy Finn ! How’s it hanging?” The paper craft cat smiled at Finn.

“Howdy Scraps! Not much, how's Goob?”

“Good! Thanks for asking. Why don’t you come in?”

“Oh I’d love to but I'm in a hurry! Do you have the box ready yet?”

Scraps snapped her claws in realisation. “Oh yes! One moment please Finnian.” She closed the door, shortly coming back with a box, shoving it into Finn’s hands.

“Oh my cod! It looks better than I could've imagined!” The box was a large present box, the outside of it covered with blue paint and with a bubble pattern painted over it. The box had a white tag hanging off the top via a piece of string.

“This is perfect! Thanks Scraps!”

“Just don't tear it up, I spent a lot of time on it.” she said sternly. “I’m gonna head to bed now.”

He giggled a little bit as a sweat droplet dripped down his cheek. Knowing who this gift was for that might be a little difficult, but he could do it!

“Right! Sea ya and goodnight!”

“Bye bye!” Scraps closed the door on Finn.

Finn stood in-front of Scrap's door for a second before running back to his own room, opening the door and dashing in, leaving the door open as he did. Finn walked over to the bed and threw the present down on it.

He opened the top of the present and threw the Batman book inside, proceeding to then throw in his last bag of takis and his last box of gushers.

“Hmmm…” He put his finger up to his chin to think of what else to put in there when he suddenly got an idea. Finn kneeled down and looked under his bed.

“Where are you…” Finn looked around under there before finally finding it, sticking his arms under pulling out his box of plushies and toys.

He kneeled down and shuffled through the box until he found the toy he was looking for, pulling out a small crochet shrimp. “Oh, he’s gonna love this!” He whispered to himself.

He threw the shrimp into the present box and kicked his toy box back under his bed. He opened his top cabinet and pulled out his favourite pen, a blue pen with glitter ink. He went back over to his bed and grabbed the tag on the present and began to write.

‘TO SHRIMPO:’

He paused, thinking of what to write.

‘I INVITE YOU TO BE MY’

He paused again, writing a singular ‘B’ on the paper. He sat there for a few seconds, countless words and letters passing through his mind before sighing and continuing by writing ‘EST FRIEND’ after it, drawing a small blue heart on the tag beside his writing.

“There we go! Fin-tastic! ” He picked up the box,  turning around and preparing to bring it over to the recipient's home when he saw someone glancing over at him from the gate of his door.

“Whatcha up to Finn?”

Finn dropped the box out of surprise before quickly kicking it under his bed, moving over to stand in-front of the spot he kicked it.

“S–S-Sprout! Hello! What’s kraken?” He blushed a little bit at the sudden intrusion.

“Not much, me and Cosmo were looking for you. Where’ve you been?”

“Oh y’know… places…” He awkwardly smiled.

Sprout looked at Finn with an annoyed face before simply sighing and sticking his smile back onto his face.

“Me and Cosmo wanted to bake something for you and Shrimpo so that we can get closer!”

“ Reel-y?! ” Finn’s eyes lit up like stars in excitement.

“Mainly for Shrimpo though to incentivize him to be nicer but yes! Come with me!”

Finn walked over to the door and followed Sprout through the empty hallway and to the kitchen. Sitting there was Cosmo sitting down, trying his best to converse with Shrimpo who was sitting on the other side of the table from him. The two of them looked over to their partners as they turned the corner.

“Sprout!”

“FINN!”

Finn walked over and sat down beside Shrimpo. “Hello frys! ”

“H-Hello!” Cosmo did his best to smile at Finn.

“HI FINN.” Shrimpo had his usual expression on his face, but he seemed a bit happier now that Finn was here.

Sprout came over with a large plate of food, plopping it down on the table and sitting down next to his boyfriend.

The two fish boys looked over at the plate and their eyes lit up, even Shrimpo smiling a little as he saw what was on it.

“We saw how you guys enjoyed watching us bake it on the TV so we baked you some lemon meringue pie!”

The two of them screamed “ OH MY COD! ” in unison as they looked down at the pie in front of them.

“T-Theres eight slices there for you two… Split it however you’d l-like!” Cosmo hadn’t even finished his sentence before Shrimpo started shoving slices into his mouth, picking up a piece and taking a large bite out of it.

“I want half!” Finn picked up his own slice and began eating it.

Shrimpo let out a muffled “OKAY” as he chewed on his lemon meringue. The two bakers just sat there and giggled to each other as the marine toons ate.

Finn finished his first slice, looking over to the chefs and shouting “This is so good! Thanks a bunch, I’m hooked!” He shoved another slice into his mouth, Shrimpo already being on his third slice. Sprout and Cosmo smiled at Finn’s compliment.

As Shrimpo gobbled up his last slice, Finn was only on his third. As Finn began to eat he realised that something was wrong.

“Wait…” he said with a mouthful of pie, looking over at the plate.

“There’s an extra slice!” Finn said as he swallowed the last piece of his third slice.

Shrimpo looked over in astonishment. How could this be!?

Sprout and Cosmo began to giggle, Sprout trying his best not to burst out laughing.

“IS THIS FOR ME?!” Shrimpo yelled towards the two.

“Whoops! We must’ve cut it wrong!” Sprout lied to them. Truthfully, he had slid an extra slice onto the plate while the two were distracted.

“How do you accidentally cut a pie into nine slices?”

Sprout shrugged, “Honest mistake!”

Finn finished his last slice and looked over at Shrimpo, Shrimpo doing the same to his friend.

“TAKE IT!!”

“I can’t take it, you do it!”

“NO!!”

“I’m not a shellfish guy, just take it!”

“I REFUSE! UPON MY DEAD BODY!”

“Well I guess I’m gonna have to krill you because I’M NOT EATING IT!!” Finn crossed his arms.

Shrimpo felt like flipping the table at that moment, but doing that would probably ruin this whole event so he held back.

“Here! Why don’t you guys save it for later?”

Shrimpo and Finn gave each other death glares before both sighing simultaneously.

“Okay, I’ll stick it in the fridge. Thanks again!” Finn licked and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

Shrimpo wiped his face in silence.

“Shrimpo…! Say thank you!”

Shrimpo blushed a little bit before turning over to Sprout and Cosmo.

“THANKS…”

The bakers both clapped and smiled at their reactions.

“Great!! We’re happy you enjoyed it!”

“W-We’ll be on our way now… bye bye!”

The two of them stood up and walked away back to their rooms, waving at Finn and Shrimpo as they did.

“Prawnfully nice of them to do that for us, don’t you think?”

“I GUESS SO…” Shrimpo looked at the last slice of lemon meringue in the middle of the table.

Finn stood up and grabbed the plate, opening the fridge and sliding it in to save it for tomorrow. “We can decide tomorrow!”

Shrimpo nodded.

“I'm gonna go to sleep now. I’m gonna be out like a trout! You gonna head to bed too?”

“IN A BIT. GO TO BED!” Shrimpo shooed at Finn, who waved goodbye to Shrimpo before running back to his room, closing the door behind him this time but not locking it as usual.

“What a day! I cod use a nap!” Finn was about to crash in bed but remembered, he had to feed his fish. He opened his bedside cabinet and grabbed his bottle of fish flakes, pouring a few in.

“There we-” Finn looked into his tank and noticed the newborn fish swimming around.

“Hey! I still don't know your name! What's your name, little guy?” Finn put his head up to the other fish bowl.

He tried to listen for a little bubbling from the tank but was interrupted as his door slammed open.

“A-Ah! Who goes- Shrimpo!?”

Shrimpo stepped inside and closed Finn’s door.

“WHY DON’T YOU LOCK YOUR DOOR?!”

“Well it got you to come into my room didn’t it?”

“WHY DON’T YOU LOCK IT!!!”

“Come over here!”

Shrimpo walked over to Finn and looked inside his bedside fishbowl. Finn tapped at the baby fish and asked Shrimpo a question: “What do you think his name is?”

“I DON’T KNOW. WHAT IS IT?”

“That’s why I'm asking you! Come on, put your head up next to it, what do you hear?”

Shrimpo put his head right up to the bowl and listened.

“...”

“...”

“What do you hear?”

Shrimpo pulled back from the tank and put his hand up to his face in a thinking gesture.

“NOTHING!”

“Oh! That can be his name! Hello Mr. Nothing!”

“THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT YOU IMBECIL!”

“Come up with a better name then wise guy!”

Shrimpo stood there for a moment, racking his brain trying to think of something.

“BRUCE.”

“Ooh! I like that! Like the shark from Jaws?”

“NO! LIKE BRUCE WAYNE!! THE BATMAN!!!”

“Oh, well that works too! Hello Brucey!” He tapped the tank.

“Also, can you keep it down? Maybe stop yelling while we’re in here.”

“WHY!?”

“You’re scaring the fish!”

Shrimpo scowled and stuck his tongue out at Finn, crossing his arms.

“And also-” Finn put his hand on Shrimpo’s shoulder.

“You sound a lot nicer when you aren’t yelling!” He gave Shrimpo a big toothy grin.

Shrimpo’s face instantly began to flare up and turn bright red. He pushed Finn’s hand off and turned away.

“F-Fine… But only in here!” He snapped back around and pointed at Finn.

“See! You sound fin-tastic!”

Shrimpo began to flare up again. He turned back around and hopped on Finn’s bed, laying down on his back and resting his head sideways on Finn’s pillow so he could look at him.

“Hey, what are you doing here anyway? You never told me!”

Shrimpo sat up and looked at Finn, his cheeks still a little red.

Finn stood there in confusion for a few seconds.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK?! STOP JUST STANDING THERE!!”

“Hey! What’d I say?”

“Fine! Stop standing there and…”

He sat there in silence for a moment.

“Get over here!!” Shrimpo demanded as he began to blush profusely, closing his eyes in embarrassment.

“Oh! That’s what you meant!”

“What else would I mean!?”

Finn walked over to his lightswitch and killed the lights before running back over to his bedside table and turning on his nightlight, barely illuminating himself and Shrimpo.

“You know, if you wanted to cuddle then you could’ve just asked!” Finn said as he laid down on his bed, looking right into Shrimpo’s eyes.

Shrimpo sulked.

“Just a warning though, I’ve never really cuddled anyone before if we’re not counting the sleepover so… let minnow how I do! ” He offered his arms out to Shrimpo, Shrimpo reaching his own out and pulling Finn in towards him.

Sprout spied in through a little crack in the door from the outside. He pulled his eye out and looked down at Cosmo who had just had his own look inside Finn’s room.

“So…? What do you think…?”

“Dude. They act even gayer than we do.”

Cosmo contemplated.

“Do you think we can tell Shrimpo about us yet…?”

“Not now... Maybe later!”

Sprout and Cosmo quietly laughed together as they trotted back to Sprout’s room.

Finn and Shrimpo continued to awkwardly cuddle for a few minutes, re-adjusting their position every now and then until they finally felt comfortable, with Finn facing towards his door and Shrimpo cuddling him from behind. Shrimpo gripped the front of Finn's sweater and asked him a question.

“Hey Finn... You’re not gonna leave… are you…? ”

“Depends… is there any lemon meringue left?” Finn said jokingly.

“No! I ate it all…” Shrimpo shamefully admitted.

Finn giggled a little as he pulled his blanket over the two of them.

“Then I’m not leaving!” Finn turned his head over to Shrimpo and smiled reassuringly.

Chapter Text

Brightney sat at her writing desk. She was in her room, writing away on a piece of letter paper, she was writing for someone. She used a black calligraphy pen for her letter, mustering up the fanciest handwriting she could. She’d been lifted up to bed by Tisha after falling asleep in the library with her and had been awake and working for a while.

Brightney finished writing and after reading over it, she sighed before crumpling up the piece of paper and tossing it into her bin, the paper unfortunately bouncing off as it was already filled to the brim with clumps of crumpled paper. She shrugged this off and pulled out another piece of letter paper, repeating her process and beginning to write.

She was around halfway through filling the page when she heard a gentle knock at her door, pausing to look over at it.

“Come in!”

Look who it is! Brightney’s favourite tissue box softly opened the door and waltzed in, closing the door behind her and turning to her friend.

“Teesh!” Brightney pushed her chair out from underneath her desk and turned to Tisha with her arms outstretched.

Tisha slowly walked over and reciprocated Brightney’s hug before stepping a few feet back and looking down on her with a smile.

“How are you doing, Brights?”

“Better!”

“How much sleep did you get last night?”

Brightney awkwardly turned her head around to look at her clock. “About six hours, more than I usually get...”

“Only six?! Brights! You’re supposed to get eight!” Tisha scolded.

“What!? I can’t control how much I sleep! I don’t choose to wake up at these forsaken hours!” Brightney said in an accusatory tone.

“You use an alarm clock!”

“Well I always have to wake up early to clean the library!”

Tisha sighed.

“Well how long have you been awake for?”

“Considering it's 7:52 right now and I woke up at 4:30 that's about 3 hours.”

Tisha looked like she was ready to cry, looking down on Brightney with a look of sadness mixed with disappointment.

“Briiiggghhhtts! If you aren’t going to look after yourself properly then I’m not going to help you clean the library anymore!”

“Nonono wait a second!”

Tisha crossed her arms sternly. "And I won't cuddle with you."

“Fine… I promise to try and get more sleep this time around…” She looked away from Tisha in embarrassment, blushing slightly.

“You will get more sleep!”

Brightney groaned and slammed her head down on her desk.

Tisha’s expression returned to normal, taking a glance around Brightney’s room as the lamp laid her head down on her desk.

Tisha walked over to Brightney’s bin, picking up the discarded piece of paper Brightney had thrown out earlier and taking a look at it.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a poem!”

“Who’s it for?”

Brightney lifted her head up and put her finger up to her lips in a shushing gesture. “Secret!” She winked.

Tisha uncrumpled the paper and read it to herself.

‘Your eyes glisten with the light of days, the quietest whispers, the restless waves.’

‘To see your face just one more time, would be the brightest day in my darkest nights.’

‘I stole your lines, you stole my heart.’

‘No one could ever keep us apart.’

Tisha giggled a little bit as she read it.

“You really wrote this?”

“Yeah…” Brightney looked down to the floor in embarrassment.

“Why’d you throw it out?”

“It’s stupid and cheesy and dumb…”

“I think it’s really cute!! Who’s it for?” She asked curiously.

“It’s-”

“Wait wait wait! Let me guess…” Tisha closed her eyes and concentrated.

“Astro!”

Brightney shook her head.

“Finn?”

“No!” she snickered a little at Tisha’s suggestion.

“Wait, I've got it! Is it Razzle?!”

Brightney burst out into laughter.

“Did I get it?!”

“No! No!” She continued to laugh, putting her hands on her stomach to try and contain herself.

“Give me a hint!”

“Okay, Okay!” Brightney ceased her laughter and paused for a moment to catch her breath.

“It’s a girl!”

Tisha’s eyes lit up and a smile formed on her face.

“You never told me you liked girls!” she said excitedly.

“Never had the chance to!”

“Well? Who is it!?”

“I’ll give you one guess!”

Tisha closed her eyes again and racked her brain, standing there for a few seconds as she thought of every possible answer except for the correct one.

“Teagan?!”

“No! Teesh, I would never try to steal your ex from you!”

“I don’t mind at all! Me and Teagan are still friends!”

“Well it’s not her.”

Tisha hit herself on the head with her feather duster. “Dang it!”

Brightney laughed and blushed a little bit at Tisha’s reaction, her secret was safe for now.

“I’ll figure it out later… Have you heard the news?”

Brightney stopped laughing and looked at Tisha confusedly.

“There’s news?”

Tisha nodded her head and smiled.

“Mhm! Dandy’s coming in to check on us tomorrow! He’s been really busy with producing the next season of the show but he's gonna pay us a visit!”

“Wooooh! I can’t wait!” Brightney cheered.

“Do you think I could ask him for another library expansion?” She asked slyly.

“Brights, you’ve already had 3 library expansions! You don’t need any more!”

“But I need more shelf space for all my booooooooks!”

“That’s even more work for you to do! You are actually going to work yourself to death at this rate!”

Brightney pouted and crossed her arms. “Fine.”

“Finn’s actually out there petitioning people. He wants Dandy to build an aquarium cafe.”

“Now that doesn’t sound too bad! Maybe it’ll keep him from destroying the library by filtering all his destruction into that place.”

Tisha giggled at Brightney’s joke.

“He actually passed me on the way here and made me sign his petition. Sprout, Cosmo, and Shrimpo are actually out there rallying with him right to get everyone to sign it! Sprout even got Pebble to sign it for them.” Tisha chuckled a little at that last part.

“Well isn’t that delightful.”

“He was actually looking for you! He wanted to start the work he promised to do yesterday.”

“Eh, I’m taking the day off today.”

“It’s about time! When was the last time you took a day off?”

Brightney’s head began to swirl with dates and numbers, finally barking out a “No idea!” at Tisha.

“Besides! I wanted to spend some time with my best friend.”

“I see. Well, goodbye Brights!” Tisha happily smiled and began making her way to the door.

“Wait a minute Teesh, where are you going?”

Tisha paused and looked back at Brightney.

“I thought you were gonna go meet your friend?”

“No need!”

“Why is that? Have you-”

“Because I'm looking right at them!” Brightney gave Tisha a wink and a loving smile.

Tisha looked over at Brightney, her lips taking rise like a crescent moon and her cheeks turning a darker shade of blue.

“Oh Brightney!” She ran over to Brightney and swept her off her chair, locking her in a tight hug as she lifted Brightney off the floor.

“C-Calm down Teesh!” Brightney said as she was being crushed by Tisha.

Tisha swung Brightney around before setting her back down on her feet.

“I-I’m sorry it just- it just means a lot and I admire you so much andIlovehangingoutwithyouandyouresoprettyandIadmireyoualotand-” Tishas speech was interrupted by the sound of Brightney’s door slamming open. Brightney looked behind Tisha and she saw him. That little blue fishbowl had just waltzed into her room unannounced in his favourite little orange life vest.

“Brightney! I-”

He glanced over at the girls.

“Oh carp- bad timing?”

“No Finn. This is perfect timing.” Brightney said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as the words left her mouth.

“Great! I’ve come here to get your signature! I told Tisha to tell you beforehand!”

“You never told me that you were going to burst into Brightsy’s room like this Finn!” Tisha yelled out, pointing over at Finn.

“But I said I was gonna come visit her…!”

“Finn! You need to be more specific!” Tisha said in an understanding but still disappointed voice.

“I try my best! This won’t even take too long! Like a minute!” He walked over to Brightney and handed her a clipboard with a pen.

Brightney sighed and signed the paper before handing it back to Finn.

“There.”

“Alright thanks Brightsy! I-”

“Don’t call me that, Finn.”

Finn looked over at Brightney, not understanding what he did wrong.

“B-But Tisha jus-”

“Only Tisha gets to call me that! We use pet names all the time.”

“Oh! Is this a thing that best friends do!?” He remembered the sleepover and what Glisten had been calling Rodger that night. ‘Rodgie’, ‘Rodgey Bear’, ‘Rodgey boo’, hmmmm…

“...You could say that.” She glanced over at Tisha who was awkwardly standing beside Brightney, not too sure of what to say.

“That sounds fun! Teach me how to do that!”

“You don't really need to be taught it. It’s quite simple actually! First, imagine your best friend's name in your head.”

A person instantly came to the top of Finn’s mind. “Done!”

“Now how can you twist their name to make it sound cute? Maybe add a little bit at the end of their name like Tisha does or twist their entire name like what I do with Teesh.”

Finn nodded.

“Also Finn, sorry to kill your thunder but we’re in the middle of something here. Do you think you could come back at another time?”

“But what about my work at the library?”

“I’m taking the day off.”

“For reel?!”

“Yup!”

“Hooray! Okay, bye Brightney!” Finn said as he left Brightney’s room, closing the door behind him.

Brightney looked back over to her friend and smiled.

“Sorry! Where were we?”

“I’m not too sure!” Tisha giggled.

“I’ve got an idea!” Brightney walked over to her desk and opened up her laptop, she was the only toon who had one because of her occupation and she wanted to make use of it.

She logged in, opened her file explorer, and opened up her music folder. She scrolled down until she found it, double clicking the file as a low quality rendition of Moonlight Sonata began emanating from her laptop speakers.

She walked back over to Tisha and offered her hand up to her.

“Why don’t we dance, fair lady?”

Tisha’s face instantly flared up, her face growing warmer as her cheeks became dark blue, putting on an flustered and awkward but meaningful smile.

“I-I’d love to!” She accepted, raising both her hands and clasping them into Brightney’s,

“You’re such a sweetheart! Whoever you’re pining for is a lucky girl!”

“I suppose so…” Brightney said smugly, looking into Tisha’s eyes as they began their dance.

Outside in the hallway, Finn had encountered his partner in crime, wearing his red shirt that he hated so much.

“So? How’d it go?”

“I HATE GETTING PEOPLE TO SIGN PETITIONS!!” Shrimpo flailed his arms about.

“My voyage went swimmingly! What went wrong with yours?”

“NOBODY WANTS TO SIGN IT!! NOBODY! I ONLY GOT ONE SIGNATURE AND THAT WAS AFTER I HAD TO OFFER MYSELF UP TO GOOB AND LET HIM HUG ME. I HATE HUGS!!”

“B-But I thought you liked it when we hugged…?” Finn said with a sad expression on his face.

Shrimpo’s cheeks turned a little red. He loved Finn’s hugs. They made him feel protected and last night he didn’t have any nightmares after he fell asleep with him. Maybe he needed to take naps with Finn more, he thought to himself.

“WELL THAT'S DIFFERENT!! GOOB IS GROSS AND I HATE HIM AND HE PROBABLY DOESN’T WASH HIS HANDS!”

Finn reeled back in disgust.

“I'm sure he washes them! All self respecting toons do!” Finn reached out his hand.

“Now give me your petition!”

Shrimpo slipped the piece of paper out from his clipboard and handed it to Finn, who slid it under his own clipboard.

“Alright! Cosmo has four, Sprout has four, I have seven, and you have one! Great job!” Finn enthusiastically pat Shrimpo on the shoulder.

“Counting everyone up including us, that's 19 signatures! We’re only missing Flutter and Toodles, who I can’t seem to find around here. I'm sure it's enough to convince the D man though!” Finn smiled reassuringly.

“Now come! We’re gonna visit them!” Finn offered his hand up to Shrimpo.

Shrimpo found himself almost instantly reaching his own hand out in reply, almost subconsciously grabbing Finn’s hand.

“W-WAIT! WHO ARE WE VISITING?!” He pulled his hand back.

“Cosmo and Sprout! Do you not remember last night? You told me you punched Sprout in the face and called Cosmo fat! We’re going to visit them to apologise!”

Shrimpo’s expression became one of horror as his eyes grew wide in terror, Finn seriously couldn’t be forcing him to do this, COULD HE!? What is he, insane?!

“I… I-” Shrimpo slapped Finn’s hand.

“I DON’T WANT TO!!”

Finn pulled his hand back in pain.

“Owww…” he weakly cried out, his eyes beginning to fill with water.

Shrimpo’s eyes grew even wider, instantly realising what he just did and running up to his friend, grabbing his hand apologetically.

“WAIT, NO!! DON’T CRY!!” He looked up at Finn’s face.

“W-Will you apologise to the others…?” Finn whimpered.

Shrimpo didn’t even think, swallowing his pride and blurting out: “FINE!!”

Finn’s face suddenly turned back to normal, the fishbowl smiling and grabbing Shrimpo’s hand, “Hooray! Let’s go!”

“WAIT- CROCODILE TEARS!! FINN YOU LITTLE-” Shrimpo yelled as he was dragged over to Sprout’s room.

As usual, Finn came in uninvited, but the bakers knew this and were expecting him, watching from their bed as Finn swung open the door with his partner in tow.

Finn dragged Shrimpo inside and closed the door before waving over to Sprout and Cosmo.

“Hello guys!” he said joyously.

“FINN! I SWEAR TO COD. IF I HAD MY WAY, I’D CRUSH YOUR FACE IN THE DOOR!!” Shrimpo angrily pointed a finger at Finn.

“You know Shrimpo, cuteness aggression is a bad habit!” Sprout joked mockingly, he and Cosmo chuckling.

Shrimpo’s face grew bright red from embarrassment and from anger, ready to yell obscenities at Sprout before Finn stopped him, looking him in the eyes and shouting: “Alright Shrimpo! Are we ready?”

Shrimpo considered lashing out and just krilling everyone in the room right there, but he held himself back for Finn’s sake, maybe a little for the others sake too, although of course he would never admit that. He felt closer to them and they baked an amazing lemon meringue plus Finn was there to protect him so what's the worst that could happen?

“I'M SORRY.”

Finn lightly elbowed Shrimpo.

“Say it like you mean it!”

“I’M SORRY FOR PUNCHING YOU IN THE FACE SPROUT!!”

Sprout and Cosmo started to clap together, Cosmo letting out a tiny but enthusiastic “Yaaaaayyyy.”

Shrimpo crossed his arms and scowled.

“Keep going Shrimpie!” Finn elbowed him again.

“I'M SORRY FOR INSULTING YOU TWO!!”

“That’s better! Way to go Shrimpo!” Finn began clapping too, Shrimpo almost dead from embarrassment at this point. Finn reached his arms out for a hug from Shrimpo.

“I DON’T KNOW IF I WANNA HUG YOU RIGHT NOW FINN...”

“Come on! This is an accomplishment!”

Shrimpo gave in and reciprocated Finn’s hug, Finn pulling him in and locking him into the hug.

“Okay guys go!” Finn yelled out at the couple.

“WAI-” before Shrimpo could react, he was violently crushed as Cosmo and Sprout ran over and ensnared Shrimpo in a four way group hug with Finn, Shrimpo as the main target of the hug.

Shrimpo stood there bufuddled and gasping for air before finally he was released as the three of them let go and free’d him from what he had considered torture. Shrimpo fell to the carpet as he breathed in the air which he had taken for granted.

“FINN! WH- I-!?” Shrimpo sat on the floor, barely able to form a word.

“Catfish got your tongue?”

Shrimpo blushed and looked down at the floor.

“DON’T SURPRISE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!!”

“But we forgive ya! This just our way of expressing that!” Sprout said, Cosmo laughing a bit before nodding in agreement. The two of them each reached a hand down to the fallen Shrimpo.

“Come on friend! Get back up.”

Shrimpo hurriedly thought for a moment, looking over at Sprout, at Cosmo, at Finn, and then back to the bakers. Finally, he just gave in and accepted their help, grabbing both of their hands as they lifted him up to the floor.

“THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE FRIENDS!!” Shrimpo stepped over to Sprout and waved a fist in his face.

“You wouldn’t do that Shrimpo!”

This agitated Shrimpo even further, lowering his fist and staring down at the floor.

“Oh yeah! Cosmo, do you have the things?”

Cosmo nodded, pulling out two bracelets from his pocket and handing them to Sprout.

“Oooh! Whatcha got swimming around in there, Cosmo?”

“We got scraps to make these before you came. Here ya go!” Sprout passed the two bracelets into Shrimpo’s hands.

“Give that one to Finn!” Sprout pointed at one of the bracelets, Shrimpo turning around and handing that one to Finn.

Shrimpo stared at the bracelet, they must’ve gotten something wrong right? This one must’ve been for Finn!

“Awww, this is so cute! Thanks guys!” Finn put the bracelet around his right hand. 

Finn had been handed a word bracelet with ‘SHRIMPO’ written on it surrounded by blue and orange beads with a small plastic anchor hanging off the middle. Shrimpo had been handed the same thing, only with ‘FINN’ written on it instead of his name.

“THIS MUST BE A MISTAKE, RIGHT? WHY DOES MINE SAY FINN!?”

“Nope, no mistakes! Me and Cosmo have a pair too!” Sprout and Cosmo raised their arms, showing off their own matching bracelets.

“Oh my cod i love it!” Finn shoved his wrist in Shrimpo’s face.

“WHAT ARE THESE!?”

“Friendship bracelets!” Sprout said enthusiastically.

“ME AND FINN AREN’T- I MEAN-” Shrimpo looked over at Finn and walked up to him.

“DID YOU TELL THEM!?” He said in an accusatory and horrified tone.

“H-Huh!?”

Sprout and Cosmo looked at each other, the two of them trying to hide their smiles as they giggled, wondering if Shrimpo would confess to what they had theorised together.

“YOU DID, DIDN’T YOU!”

“N-No! I-I Never-”

“YOU TOLD THEM WE WERE FRIENDS DIDN’T YOU!?”

It wasn’t quite what they had expected but it was progress, the couple continued to look at the toons as they argued.

“Shrimpo, I never told them that!”

“THEN HOW DID-” Shrimpo stopped speaking, realising what he just let slip, looking over at Cosmo and Sprout in embarrassment.

“So you are friends!! We knew it!”

“GET OUT!! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!!” Shrimpo screamed, walking over and waving his hands at the two of them, trying to usher them out of their own room.

“Alright, we can continue this later! Bye bye you two.” Sprout stood there and pointed at the door.

“NO, YOU GET OUT!! GET OUT!!”

“Alright Shrimpo we’re leaving!” Finn grabbed Shrimpo’s hand and tugged on it, trying to snap him out of his rage.

Shrimpo looked over at Finn and blushed again, looking down at the bracelet around Finn’s wrist and then the one in his own hand.

“FINE!” Shrimpo threw the bracelet around his left wrist and walked out of the room with Finn.

Shrimpo stomped out into the hallway and slammed the door shut behind him, looking over at Finn.

“Come on! The bracelets are cute!” Finn showed Shrimpo his wrist.

Shrimpo said nothing and continued to stare at Finn with his usual angry expression.

“Some-fin bothering you?”

“SOME-FIN BOTHERING ME!? THEY JUST FOUND OUT OUR SECRET AND NOW WE’RE SCREWED!!”

“Who cares if people know we’re friends, it's not hurting anyone!”

“IT HURTS ME! AND MY PRIDE!!”

“Wasn’t it pretty obvious? You’ve been clinging to me like a magnet as of recently!”

“I HAVE NOT!!”

“And Cosmo and Sprout are probably the best people who could’ve figured it out. Be glad it wasn’t Glisten, you’d never sea the end of it.”

Shrimpo crossed his arms.

“Why don’t you go back to your room and rest for a while.”

“I DON’T WANT TO!”

“What if I come with you?”

Shrimpo blushed.

“MAYBE…”

“Only if you promise to use your speaking voice and not your screaming voice!”

Shrimpo sighed, letting his arms fall down to his side as he accepted his fate.

“Fine…”

Chapter Text

“For cod’s sake, again? How did you get so good?!”

“I’m a pro! Shrimpo always wins!!”

The boys sat together in the library's games room, playing on the Nintendo WII that Brightney had stationed there for visitors surrounded by shelves and shelves of board games and consoles.

They both sat on the same bean bag as they played, occasionally bumping shoulders or heads as they fought. Of course, it was Shrimpo’s idea to sit with Finn like this.

They were playing versus mode on Mario Kart WII and Shrimpo had Finn beat 2-0.

“Come on! Rematch!” Finn demanded.

“I don’t know, I might beat your ass again!”

“I’m eelin’ lucky! Stop trouting around and let's have a rematch!”

Shrimpo sneered and continued playing. Finn chose to play as Yoshi and Shrimpo was playing as Bowser, both of them using the standard bike to race.

After they chose their characters, they sat at the level selection screen for a moment. Shrimpo should’ve had the pick of the next level since he’d won the last race but for some odd reason, he felt like letting Finn choose this time.

“You pick one.”

Finn looked at him in astonishment, “But you’re the one who-”

“Pick a level, Finnegan!” Shrimpo declared, bumping his shoulder against Finn’s.

“Ah! Fine, okay!” Finn took control and went through the levels, eventually choosing Peach Beach.

“Of course…” Shrimpo snickered. Usually he wouldn’t speak or act like this, but since he was with his friend, he felt like he could show at least a little bit of his enjoyment.

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“Well- Uh- you like the ocean! Of course you pick the beach level!”

“Astute observation!” Finn smiled.

The match started and as usual, Shrimpo instantly overtook Finn, blazing past him as Finn messily drove around and bumped into walls.

“How do you cut corners like that!?”

Shrimpo giggled, “Secret!”

“No fair! I’ve never played this before!” Finn pouted, trying his best to learn from Shrimpo by gazing at his side of the screen.

Shrimpo reached the final lap, Finn barely managing to reach the beginning of the second as he did. Shrimpo glanced over at his friend and saw him struggling, Finn’s face exuding a tinge of sadness and worry as he struggled to control his character, the fishbowl rattling the controller around in his hands as he did.

Shrimpo felt bad for him. Frankly, Shrimpo was demolishing Finn, but he wasn’t having much fun doing it. Finn was like a fish out of water and Shrimpo was just allowing him to suffocate on the floor.

Shrimpo suddenly stopped his character in the middle of the track.

“Oh no! My batteries died!” He shook his WIImote around.

Finn stopped his character too and turned to Shrimpo.

“Would you like me to get you some?” He smiled.

This wasn’t what Shrimpo had expected. In his mind, Finn was supposed to keep going and get ahead of him, so why had he stopped to help?

“Finn! Keep playing!”

“No! I’ll get you some new ones!” Finn began to sit up when Shrimpo suddenly hit the pause button.

“Oh- Did you fix it?” Finn sat back down.

Shrimpo looked over to him, he wasn’t too sure if he was supposed to feel flustered, cry, or some other option, but he just looked into Finn’s big beady eyes.

“Finn… why are you so nice to me?”

“Hm? What do you mean?” Finn said in confusion.

“Why didn’t you continue!? You could’ve easily overtaken me and won! That’s what I would’ve done.”

“But that’s not fair at all! I wanna win fair and square! No matter how long it takes!”

“Finn, you’re lightyears behind me! It’d take you weeks to catch up to my skill level!” Shrimpo boasted.

Finn set his controller down and grabbed Shrimpo’s hand, looking into his eyes as he did.

“Well I wouldn't mind spending that time with you!”

Shrimpo began to tear up. He didn’t deserve Finn, nobody did. In his eyes, the world, the same one that held everything he hated and despised, didn’t deserve to be blessed with the presence of someone as kind and caring as Finn was.

“Finn… you gotta… y-you gotta stop doing this…”

Finn looked at him in confusion, “You okay Shrimpo? You got a little something right-” Finn playfully reached his hand over and wiped a tear forming under Shrimpo’s eye. “Right there!” Finn smiled.

“N-No, Finn I- Finn- Sto- Finn-” Shrimpo was incoherent, unable to form a word as he frantically stuttered, trying his best to hold back the tears.

“Woah, Shrimpo! Calm down! Look at your poor face!” Finn wiped another tear from Shrimpo’s face, but it proved useless, tears beginning to stream down Shrimpo’s face like a waterfall.

“FINN! YOU- YOU- FINN- YO- YOU NEED TO LEAVE ME ALONE-” Shrimpo was ready to book it and run, but Finn wouldn’t let that happen, Finn wrapping his arms around Shrimpo and embracing him, Finn resting Shrimpo’s head on his shoulder as he continued to sob.

Shrimpo let out a few pained whimpers as he reciprocated, embracing Finn in his own arms and crying on his shoulder. He wouldn’t run this time.

“Come on Shrimpo, what’s kraken?” Finn pet Shrimpo’s shoulder.

Shrimpo continued to sob, unable to answer Finn’s question.

“Catfish got your tongue?” Finn joked.

Shrimpo’s tears turned into a strange cacophony of laughter and weeping, unable to contain himself as Finn spouted out his silly jokes in the middle of his breakdown.

“Do you need me to get you a tissue?”

“N-N-No!”

“Really Shrimpo! It’s no big deal, I can just-”

“No! This is f–f-fine…” He tugged on Finn’s life vest.

Finn stood there in silence for a few minutes, allowing Shrimpo to sob on his shoulder as he lovingly held him.

“Do you wanna talk about it…?” Finn questioned.

“...What did I do to deserve you, Finn…?” Shrimpo dug into Finn’s back, his life vest preventing Finn from any physical damage.

“I don’t understand what you’re carping on about Shrimpo!”

Shrimpo pushed Finn onto his back, pinning him to the ground and staring down at him from above.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?” 

Finn was a little scared, but he kept it in, looking up at Shrimpo as tears dripped down his cheeks and onto Finn’s face.

“All I want from you is to see you get better!” Finn put on his bravest smile and looked into Shrimpo’s eyes.

“I can’t promise you that I understand what you’re going through, but I’m here for you!”

Shrimpo looked down at Finn, into his eyes, his lips, his cheeks, it was too much for him, Shrimpo giving in and collapsing collapsing, laying his body on top of Finn's.

“You’re so stupid Finn…” Shrimpo weakly whispered.

“I never was the sharpest hook in the tacklebox!” He joked, pushing Shrimpo up and onto his bottom so that Shrimpo was sitting on his stomach, Shrimpo’s legs draping down the side of Finn’s chest.

Shrimpo sat there for a few moments and continued to look down at his friend, his dopey smile, his infectious optimism, his stupid jokes… oh my cod…

“One of these days, I promise that you’ll learn to love. And I’ll be with you every step of the way!” Finn winked at his friend.

Shrimpo’s well of tears dried up, but he continued to stare below at Finn.

“Now, do you wanna get back to playing our game?”

Shrimpo contemplated for a moment.

“...Can we cuddle in your room…?” he asked weakly.

Finn gave him that heart shatteringly cute smile that Shrimpo didn’t hate so much as Finn let out a response.

“I’d love to!”

Little did Finn know, as he helped his friend off his feet and began to clean up the playing area, that Shrimpo was already beginning to learn how it felt to love.

Chapter Text

“Come on Shrimpo! You cod this!”

They’d been walking for a while through the maze-like structure of the library and Shrimpo’s legs had given in again, collapsing to the floor as Finn desperately tried his best to keep him up, the two toons slowly making their way home, arm in arm.

“N-NO!! I-I Don’t…” Shrimpo felt drained and exhausted, his head hammering with pain as he dragged his feet along the floor within Finn’s grasp.

“Just a little bit more, come on!” Finn continued to try and help Shrimpo walk through the library.

Shrimpo fell out of Finn’s grasp with a pained yelp, his hand catching him from falling face down on the floor as he looked downwards.

“I DON’T WANNA WALK ANYMORE!!!” He cried out, non-existent tears falling down his cheeks as he wept.

Finn looked down as his friend as he cried his heart out on the floor. Despite what he was letting on, Finn was scared. He had no idea what had Shrimpo feeling so down and why he was suddenly acting like this but he knew that he wanted to help him no matter what. Finn bent down and mustered up all his strength and grabbed Shrimpo’s legs with one of his hands and grabbed the underside of his back with the other, lifting him off the floor in the bridal position.

“You don’t need to! I’m not having you walking away from me!” Finn smiled at him as he began carrying his friend over to the elevator, struggling slightly as he held the weight of Shrimpo’s body in his arms.

Shrimpo wanted to punch Finn right there and run off but for one, he could never bring himself to hurt Finn, two, he wouldn’t get very far, and three, he didn't entirely hate this, although what he did hate was Finn exerting himself to help him.

Finn inched towards the elevator and finally reached the interior, hitting the button to the toon rooms with his elbow so he didn’t need to drop his friend.

Shrimpo looked up at his friend as he held him, Finn looking into his eyes with that ever lovable grin splattered across his face.

“Every-fins going to be fine, Shrimpo! Just hang in there.”

How could he be so sure of himself? What if an evil monster came along and snatched Finn out of his grasp? What if the walls closed in and crushed both of them? What if Finn just disappeared? Shrimpo was horrified, but Finn’s words brought him comfort, continuing to stare at the face that seemed to become more and more endearing every time he looked at it. What a load of carp… he thought to himself.

They reached their destination and Finn stepped out of the elevator. Shrimpo anticipated Finn to look for others but he just went on ahead with no regard for his pride, stepping out of the elevator and heading into the hallway connecting all the rooms.

Nethertheless, the hallways were empty, so Shrimpo saw no need to complain.

Finn began walking over to Shrimpo’s room when he suddenly felt a tug on his life vest.

“N-No…! Your room… not mine…” Shrimpo weakly yelped.

Finn nodded and walked over to his room instead, opening it with his elbow and kicking it closed as he entered.

Finn set Shrimpo down on his bed and laid his head on his pillow.

“Wooh! Good job Shrimpo! I'm beached!” Finn wiped a droplet of sweat from his head and put his hands down on his hips, smiling at Shrimpo.

“You want a blanket or anything?”

Shrimpo stretched his limbs and writhed around on the bed as he groaned.

“I WANT YOU!!” He coughed a little.

“Oh cod! Are you okay!?” Finn ran over to his side.

Shrimpo stretched his arms out to Finn, looking for a hug.

Finn blushed a little, a few bubbles spawning from his head as he stepped back.

“S-Sorry! Not now, I think you’re sick!”

“I am not-” Shrimpo coughed again, “Sick!!” Shrimpo waved his arms around, still looking for a hug.

Finn walked back up and put his hand up to Shrimpo’s forehead.

“You’re really hot! I definitely think you're sick!”

Finn looked down a little.

“And your face! It’s bright red!”

Shrimpo slammed his hands over his blushing face and covered it. He wasn’t too sure if he was red from his ‘sickness’ or red for another reason, but either way it was embarrassing for him.

“Don’t look!!”

Finn reached over to the top of his bed and grabbed the large great white shark plushie sitting there, shoving it into Shrimpo’s stomach as he covered his face.

“I’m gonna go get Sprout and Cosmo! Stay here with Mr. Jinks, he’s my favourite and he's super strong! The fish can keep you company if you get too lonely!”

He looked down at the shark, it had grey plush fur, a white belly, and the inside of its mouth was pink. He appreciated the trust Finn placed in him with his favourite shark and cuddled it, wrapping his arms and legs around it and looking back over at Finn. 

He would’ve preferred Finn over the silly shark, but he also would’ve preferred that Finn stayed healthy, so he would have to manage.

Finn gave Shrimpo a pat on the head and left to find the toons, waving to Shrimpo as he closed the door. “Bye bye! I’ll be back soon!”

Shrimpo laid there on his bed, snuggling Mr. Jinks as his eyes gazed around the room to pass the time.

He turned over and looked into Finn’s fish bowl by his bedside table. Shrimpo didn’t recognize any of the fish besides Bruce, the one he’d named. He watched as Bruce swam around his enclosure, bumping into walls the other fish who Shrimpo didn’t know.

He enjoyed watching Finn’s fish, seeing them fly in and out of strands of artificial kelp that decorated the tank, along with small rocks and grains of sand which decorated the floor of the tank.

As he looked happily at the fish, Shrimpo caught a strange and familiar scent. He looked and sniffed around for the source until he found it, the scent originating from the shark Finn had given him. Mr. Jinks reeked of whatever deodorant Shrimpo would sniff up whenever he cuddled with Finn, and he loved it. He dug his face into the shark and cuddled it closer, trying to dig out as much of that pleasant aroma as possible.

It felt so nice to Shrimpo that if he closed his eyes, he could imagine that Finn was cuddling with him instead of the shark, so he did, closing his eyes and stuffing his face into the shark plushie.

As he cuddled it, he tried to remember the sensation of Finn’s body... his nylon life vest, his soft hands against his skin, the way he could hear Finn’s heart gently beat when he had his head up to his chest. Shrimpo could even try and imagine him in his little pink sweater, he preferred the feeling of that compared to the life vest.

Shrimpo had just about fallen asleep when Finn’s door blew open. It had to be Finn, no normal person opened doors like that.

Shrimpo lazily sat up and looked over to the door, spotting Cosmo, Sprout, and of course, Finn.

“HEY…! LEARN TO KNOCK ALREADY, FINN!” Shrimpo coughed again.

“Alright Shrimpo, what's up?” Sprout said, walking up to Shrimpo with Cosmo not far behind.

“THROAT SORE. VERY HOT-” Shrimpo coughed, cutting himself off.

The two of them thought for a moment.

“C-Can you open your mouth…?”

Shrimpo reluctantly obliged, sticking his mouth open for Cosmo.

Cosmo had one glance inside before immediately spotting the problem.

“Strep throat! Y-You have strep throat Shrimpo!”

Shrimpo closed his mouth and looked at him in confusion.

“I HATE STREP THROAT!! WHAT IS STREP THR-” Shrimpo coughed a little more.

“H-Hey! No yelling! You’ll damage your throat.” Cosmo scolded him.

Shrimpo looked to Finn, who gave him two thumbs up and a smile to reassure him.

“Can you just lobotomize me already…? I think it would be preferable to this!” Shrimpo coughed again.

“Stop yelling or I’ll reel Mr. Jinks back!”

Shrimpo hugged the shark plushie close in an attempt to protect him from Finn's thievery.

“No!”

Cosmo put his hand up to Shrimpo’s head.

“I think you have a fever too… you’re really warm and your face is bright red.”

Shrimpo rolled his eyes and looked down at his shark.

“M-Make sure to drink lots of water and only eat easy to consume food like soup if you can help it! Make sure to get lots of rest too…”

Shrimpo groaned at Cosmo’s insight.

“Also no more of that ‘friendship’ stuff yall do! No hugging, no sleeping together, and no kissing! Especially no kissing!” Sprout declared.

Shrimpo’s heart practically shattered, the #1 thing he was looking forward to after Sprout and Cosmo left was to spend time with Finn and now he couldn’t do that!? “This is unfair!” he thought to himself.

“Ummm…” Finn began blushing, a few bubbles appearing inside his head.

“We don’t kiss! We’ve never kissed!”

“We’ll see how long that lasts…” Sprout muttered under his breath.

“We’re just informing you! W-We are not accusing you of a-anything!” Cosmo stuck his hands up in defence.

Shrimpo was a little agitated but he appreciated the help, so he stretched his hand out to Cosmo, looking for a handshake.

“Thanks…” Shrimpo said sheepishly.

Cosmo was a little taken aback, but he wasn't one to decline, accepting Shrimpo’s handshake with a smile.

“Anytime…!”

Shrimpo smiled a tiny bit.

“W-We’ll be on our way now. Goodbye…!” Cosmo and Sprout waved to them as they walked to the door and left the room.

It took Shrimpo a few seconds to realise what he’d just done. It took him a few more to realise that he’d been smiling. Almost immediately, Shrimpo wiped the smile from his face and returned to his normal angry expression, looking down at Finn who was sitting on his knees by the side of his bed, his arms over the top of the blanket.

The two of them stood there for a little while before finally, Shrimpo spoke up.

“...Can I stay here until I’m better?”

“I guess so!” Finn giggled a little.

“Can I sleep in your bed then?”

“...but I wanted to snooze with you…”

“Do you not remember what Cosmo said? This is a massive prawnblem!”

“You gotta be squidding me…” Shrimpo rasped.

“Yeah… what a load of carp!”

Shrimpo laughed a little.

“Why don’t you get some rest, Shrimpo?”

Shrimpo groaned, drooping one arm down the side of the bed and using the other to cuddle Mr. Jinks as he laid face down on a pillow.

“I don’t wanna!” he complained, his voice muffled from the pillow.

“Cosmo said you need rest, Shrimpie!”

“Well COSMO can go and f-” Shrimpo paused.

“What the hell did you just call me?!” He took his head out of the pillow and looked over at Finn.

“It’s a pet name! Brightney told me you can call people you like by them as a cute alternative to their actual name!”

“People you… like…?” Shrimpo thought of what Finn could’ve possibly meant by that.

“Friends! You call your friends that stuff!”

“Oh…”

“Well, okay Finnegan…” Shrimpo said sluggishly.

“That’s not my name! Why do you people keep calling me that!?”

“THATS MY PET NAME FOR YOU!!” Shrimpo coughed.

“Get a new one! I don’t like Finnegan!”

“FINE. You get to be Finnsie!”

“Finnsie?” He paused for a moment, thinking about the name.

“Yeah…?”

“I like it!” Finn gave Shrimpo a smile.

Shrimpo felt a little flustered at Finn’s compliment. If his face wasn’t already bright red from his fever, then it would be bright red at this moment.

“T-Thanks…”

“Now Shrimpo, are you going to rest?”

Shrimpo thought for a moment, looking over at Finn as he did.

“Fine…”

“Hooray! You know how to use an alarm clock right?”

“Yeah, yeah i know how-” Shrimpo turned his head over to Finn’s clock and was frightened by what he saw, jumping back in fear.

“YOU HAVE AN ANALOGUE ALARM CLOCK?!”

“You don’t!?”

“Those clocks are scary…” Shrimpo shivered.

“I can teach you how to-”

“IT’S FINE!! I’ll just wake up whenever.”

Finn giggled a little at Shrimpo’s inability to use an alarm clock.

“Okay! If every-fins okay then I’ll leave you to it!” Finn started to sit up when Shrimpo grabbed his arm.

“Wait!!”

“Ah! I don’t know if you should be touching me with your big sick hands, Shrimpo!”

“I want you to stay with me until I fall asleep, you idiot!” Shrimpo let go of Finn.

Finn raised his eye a bit at the request.

“I mean… okay? Just be careful, I don’t want you coughing all your germs into my head!”

“I’ll be careful!”

“Promise?”

“Promise!!”

Finn thought it was a little weird but he wasn’t one to turn down his friend. He grabbed one of the pillows off his bed and set it on the floor so that he could sit next to Shrimpo as he slept.

“This okay?”

“That’s fine…”

Shrimpo snuggled his shark plushie and closed his eyes, feeling safer now that he was in Finn's presence.

Chapter Text

Shrimpo awoke alone in a dark and windowless room, except it wasn’t the one in his dreams, it was actually just Finn’s room, the darkness sprouting from the fact that the lights were turned off.

Shrimpo slowly opened his eyes and flicked on Finn’s night light, illuminating him and a small area surrounding him. Finn was gone as expected, and the room was in the same state he left it in.

Shrimpo weakly tumbled out of bed and fell to the floor, Finn’s shark plush cushioning his fall as he landed on his stomach.

“Thanks Mr. Jinks…” he groaned, stuffing his face into the plushie to get another whiff of Finn’s aroma, smiling and giggling a little as he extracted just a little bit of it from the shark.

“Haha…” he laid there for another moment, taking it in as much of it as he could, joyously rolling around on the floor.

He continued to rock around until he suddenly spotted something under Finn’s bed that stuck out to him. He stopped his little activity and crawled over to the bed, trying to see what was under it. It was a box! From the look of things, it was blue and had little bubbles on it. Unmistakably Finn’s.

“What’s this doing here?” Shrimpo thought to himself, reaching his hand under to try and grab it, although it was just out of reach.

“Damn it!” Shrimpo coughed.

He tried to get his head under the bed, but the curve of his head tail prevented him from going as far as he’d wanted.

“Stupid tail! Let me- go!” He tried to push down the tail but to no avail, unable to keep it from curving upwards and preventing him from accessing the box.

Shrimpo pouted and pulled his head out, sitting there on the floor and grabbing the shark, returning to embrace it as he sat on the floor.

A few minutes passed before Shrimpo remembered that he was supposed to be resting. He stood up to get back into bed when he decided to check the clock. The small hand was between 12 and 1 and the big one was at 9? Shrimpo had no idea what any of this meant, but he assumed that it must be late since all the lights were off, even ones that lit the hallway.

He felt a little better, at least enough to stand, so he stood up. He grabbed Finn’s night light off his bedside table and held it in front of him.

He groaned as he slowly trudged out of the room, trailing the shark's tail along the floor as he held it underneath his arm. He’d remembered Cosmo telling him to drink lots, so he was going to do that, although there was one thing he wanted to do first.

He exited Finn’s room and stumbled his way over to his own room, making his way inside and spotting Finn asleep on his bed. He was happy to see Finn, although he wasn’t what he came there for.

Shrimpo brushed past Finn and opened his closet. He felt like going out for a bit after his drink, so he was going to wear his new hoodie to keep himself cosy. Shrimpo grabbed Finn’s gift and threw off his red shirt, lazily slipping the hoodie on and haphazardly throwing his oversized shirt on the floor. After he got the hoodie on he walked over to his bed, deciding to get a quick look at his friend before he left.

He shined the night light on Finn’s face and he took a look at him. Shrimpo had never realised it until today, but Finn was adorable. Finn might not have been what most people would call conventionally attractive, but something about him was just so charming. He watched as his chest slowly rose and sank as he breathed, his mouth that always seemed to slightly hang open, revealing that missing tooth that he knew all too well. Shrimpo always wondered how Finn had lost it, but what he was wondering now is what Finn was dreaming about. He looked so happy in his sleep, so precious, so undeniably-

Shrimpo suddenly snapped out of his daydreams and hit himself on the head with the nightlight. “What am I thinking?!” he whispered to himself, slightly ashamed of how he was acting.

He looked back down at Finn and shook his head, he was thinking nonsense. He took one last glance at Finn’s face before wearily sighing and plodding out of the room, making sure to be as quiet as he could to not wake Finn up. Now for him to do what he came here for.

Shrimpo walked closed his door and looked over to the kitchen, only to realise something strange. All of the lights were out like before, but for some odd reason the kitchen light seemed to be on, the light from the kitchen creeping out into the top of the hallway.

Shrimpo switched off his night light and dragged himself over to the kitchen, peaking around the corner to remain unnoticed.

Rodger and Glisten were there, both of them wearing the same clothes they wore at the sleepover with Rodger hopping around on one foot, wearing a white cast around the injured one. For some odd reason, they were both grey again, even though they weren’t earlier whenever Finn was getting signatures… How weird.

Glisten was sitting at the counter and Rodger was right behind him on a chair, the two of them speaking while the kettle boiled.

“I could’ve made it myself…”

“Oh but I could never turn down the opportunity! And you already know I make the best tea in Gardenview!” Glisten boasted, smiling and patting Rodger on the back.

“I’m not sure if I would call it the best… I think Tisha makes pretty good sweet tea.”

“But I make better sweet tea! Just give me another chance!”

“Last time you made tea for me you spilled it everywhere and burnt me! Say what you will about Tisha but at least she doesn’t physically harm me.”

“Touché.” Glisten said angrily through his teeth.

“I’m sure you’ll love it!”

Rodger rolled his eye.

“Now, what mug do you want?”

Rodger stood up, shuffling over and investigating the selection.

“This one.” He grabbed a white mug with a black cockroach outline on it, shoving it into Glisten’s hand.

“In that case I’ll take…” Glisten took a look at the mugs himself.

“This one!” He grabbed a white mug with a bunch of blue flowers printed on it, setting it and Rodger’s mug down on the counter.

“Do you want any milk?”

“Yes. I quite like milk.”

Glisten joyfully waltzed over to the fridge, opened it, grabbed the jug of milk, closing it and walking back over to Rodger.

They stood at the counter bored, none of them saying anything while they waited for the kettle to boil. About a minute passed before anyone would speak again.

“Hey Rodger.”

“What?”

Glisten planted a surprise kiss on Rodger’s cheek, the kiss leaving a blue lipstick mark on his glass.

“Wipe it off!” Rodger screamed, pointing at his face and blushing slightly.

“But I thought you liked it when I did that…”

“I do, but we’re in the kitchen! What if someone comes in here and sees this big kissy kiss on my face?!”

Glisten stood in unamused silence.

“You’re no fun…” he wiped the lipstick off Rodger’s face.

“It’s not that I’m no fun, I just don’t want anyone knowing that we’re-” Rodger was cut off by the sudden sound of something crashing down not too far away.

The toons looked over to the hall and saw Shrimpo, he laid face down on the ground having fallen asleep, his fall broken by the Shark plushie which he laid upon.

“When did he get here?!” Rodger questioned.

“I don’t know!? Is he okay?” Glisten walked over to Shrimpo and poked at his head tail.

“I think he’s dead!” Glisten announced jokingly.

“Is there finally a crime for me to solve?!” Rodger said excitedly.

“Don't say that! I don’t want Shrimpo to die!” Glisten crouched down and lifted up Shrimpo’s face, revealing his closed eyes and agape mouth, faintly breathing as he laid in his sleep.

Rodger stumbled over and crouched down next to him.

“Exhaustion?” Glisten questioned.

“No, it seems like he’s sick.” Rodger put his hand up to Shrimpo’s head, his head warm to the touch.

“Maybe both actually…” Rodger took a closer look at the shrimp, a stream of drool dripping from his mouth and onto the shark as he snored.

The couple stood there for a moment, thinking of what to do.

“You think he saw anything!?”

“Let’s hope not. He’s probably the last person I’d want to know about us.”

When Shrimpo came to, he was laying in that dark room again. He groaned and stretched for a moment before reaching for Finn’s night light like he had before, only to realise that it wasn’t there.

“...Huh…” Shrimpo said lazily, reaching his arm out at Finn’s table only to feel nothing there, gazing around the room in an attempt to get a sense of his surroundings.

“Jinks…?” Shrimpo sat up and scavenged around the bed, looking for Finn’s shark.

“Mr. Jinks!?” he worriedly yelled, throwing the blanket and pillows off the bed and onto the floor, trying with all his might to find the shark, but finding nothing.

“F-Finn’s gonna be so mad at me…!” he said, tears beginning to form in his eyes, scrambling and crawling around the bed looking for it. Shrimpo’s search continued until he suddenly caught sight of the rest of the room, or more accurately, the lack thereof. Shrimpo’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he saw nothingness surrounding him, the only thing accompanying him in the blackness being Finn’s bed which he laid upon.

Shrimpo instantly knew what was happening, shoving his face into Finn’s pillow and hoping that everything would just go away and return back to normal.

A few minutes passed as Shrimpo clawed at the pillow, eventually tearing it away to take another look at his surroundings.

“Huh!? Finn!?” he looked ahead of him and there he was, Finn standing there on a small platform in the abyss, his back turned the other way.

“Finn! I’m sorry! I-I lost Mr. Jinks…” he shamefully admitted.

Shrimpo received no reaction from Finn.

“Finn?” Shrimpo reached his hand out and tried to reach him, but couldn’t quite get there. Finn was simply too far for him to reach.

“Finn! When I apologise, you listen!” He picked a pillow up off the bed and tossed it at Finn, the toon not reacting in any meaningful way as it bounced off him.

Shrimpo was about to throw another pillow when he felt something grab his leg, something slimy, something wet. Shrimpo looked down and he saw it, the weird version of himself he’d seen in the mirror was holding onto his leg while it hung off the side of the bed, its scarlet eyes dripping with that black fluid as it stared into Shrimpo’s own eyes.

“G-Get off me!” Shrimpo shook his leg aggressively, starting to slip off the bed under the weight of the other Shrimpo.

The other Shrimpo gargled, the black substance splattering everywhere as it tried to speak, continuing to hang onto Shrimpo.

“GET YOUR SLIMY HANDS OFF ME, MOTHERFUCKER!!” Shrimpo roared as punched his reflection in the face, causing it to let go and fall into the abyss below. Shrimpo panted and climbed back onto the bed, his leg free from the grasp of the other Shrimpo.

Shrimpo turned back around to face Finn, but Finn was no longer there.

“FINN!? WHERE DID-” Shrimpo snapped his head around and spotted his reflection at the top of the bed. It had returned, towering over Shrimpo as he stood, seeming monumental in size from Shrimpo’s perspective.

The reflection raised its foot and placed it on Shrimpo’s stomach, pushing Shrimpo off the bed and plunging him into the darkness with a single kick.

Shrimpo screamed as he felt his body getting forcefully removed from the safety of his bed, falling downwards and looking up at the other Shrimpo, both him and the bed appearing smaller and smaller with every passing moment.

Shrimpo’s eyes shot open as he jerked awake, his scream from his dream continuing as he sat up.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHH-” Shrimpo coughed loudly, cutting off his scream.

The toons turned to him in surprise, Glisten jumping backwards in shock and falling backwards off his chair, with Rodger simply sitting there surprised by Shrimpo as his boyfriend collided with the floor. The two of them had been sitting in front of him using chairs they’d dragged in from the kitchen.

“Good evening, Shrimpo.”

“WHERE IS SHRIMPO!?” He screamed, surprisingly not coughing his lungs out from screaming. He looked around and although he recognized he was in somebody's room, he had no idea exactly whose room he was being held in. Shrimpo was in a toon's bedroom, and Rodger, Glisten, or the both of them had wrapped him in a warm blanket and had placed him on a chair, Shimpo being sat next to a large vanity desk.

Rodger reached his hand over to the desk and grabbed a red mug which was sitting there, placing it in Shrimpo’s hands.

“Take a drink, it’ll make you feel better.” Rodger grabbed his own mug and held it close to his chest.

Shrimpo reluctantly brought the mug over to his face and looked into it.

“It’s cold…” Shrimpo whimpered while shaking the cup slightly, wondering if Rodger had spiked or poisoned it to krill him for what he’d just seen.

“You’ve been out for a while.” Rodger plainly replied.

“HOW LONG HAVE I-” Shrimpo’s cough interrupted him.

“Wh-What time is it?”

Rodger raised his wrist to his face, tapping his index finger at an invisible watch, “Time for you to get a watch.”

Shrimpo seethed, his hands shaking as he contemplated hurling his unwell body at Rodger and krilling him right there in front of Glisten.

“Shrimpo! What the hell? Don’t scare me like that!” Glisten finally stood up, looking over at Shrimpo and Rodger as he scolded them.

Shrimpo ignored Glisten and took a sip of his tea, immediately spitting it out into Glisten’s face and dropping the cup on the floor.

“I hate this tea. Not enough- -Cough-” “Not sweet enough and it’s so cold! I hate it!” Shrimpo hissed.

Glisten looked over as Shrimpo criticised his tea, his eyes twitching in anger.

“Right… I’ll keep that in mind…” he put on a smile and turned to his partner, “Could you clean that up for me Roddie?” 

Rodger sighed, standing up slowly and bending down to grab the spilled mug which was when Glisten ran over and snatched Rodger’s seat.

“Glisten you-” Rodger looked down at him.

“No qualms stealing from the disabled, huh? I’ll get you for this.” Rodger set the mug back down on Glisten’s vanity desk.

Glisten winked at Rodger before crossing his legs and looking over at Shrimpo.

“Have any nice dreams, Shrimps?”

“Dreamin’ up your funeral, girly boy.” Shrimpo crossed his arms.

“You can call me what you will.” Glisten said mockingly, smirking at Shrimpo’s insult.

“Clean up the liquid yourself.” Rodger shuffled his injured foot over and grabbed Glisten’s fallen chair, resurrecting it and sitting himself down on it, looking over at Shrimpo as he finished.

“That’s not very nice.” he said disappointedly, although to be fully honest he didn’t know what to expect of Shrimpo.

Shrimpo looked at Rodger for a moment which was when he realised that he was missing something. Shrimpo panicked, looking around the room in a frenzied haze.

“Where’s Mr. Jinks?!”

The two looked at him in confusion.

“Mr. Who?” Replied Glisten.

“M-Mr Jinks! H-He’s my shark!” Shrimpo scanned every inch of the room, looking around for his grey shark.

“Oh cod- Finn’s going to gill me!!” Shrimpo screamed.

“Okay let’s calm down Shrimpo. I’m sure he isn't far from here.” Rodger reassured.

“I swear, you act more like him every day...” Glisten whispered under his breath.

Shrimpo threw the blanket off him which was when he noticed that something was wrong with his hands, with his feet, with his entire body. He looked to his right and at the vanity mirror and saw that he looked very different. Shrimpo was covered in some sort of weird makeup, his beautiful orange palette being replaced with some crude mockery of its former self, the bright orange palette he once wore so proudly morphed into one consisting of dark reds, his rosy cheeks being painted over and replaced with a red trail which ran down his eyes like tears.

“WH-WHAT DID-” Shrimpo blinked and wiped his eyes, trying to make sure he wasn’t still dreaming. “WHY AM I RED!?” his head snapped over to the others with a furious expression, throwing himself off the chair and flailing his fist at them.

Glisten burst out into laughter and pointed at him, supporting himself by wrapping his arm around Rodger so he wouldn’t go tumbling down to the floor in tears, Rodger himself exhaling slightly at Glisten’s reaction.

“Took ya long enough to notice! What’s wrong, don't ya like the makeover?” Glisten sputtered through his laughter.

“DO I LIKE IT, HUH!?” Shrimpo screamed, turning back over to the mirror to have another look at himself.

“I thought it looked great with your new style!” Glisten made a frame gesture around Shrimpo.

Shrimpo contemplated, on one hand, he really wanted to hate what Glisten had done to him, but on the other, cod DAMN this look was SO COOL!! He could already imagine himself playing the electric guitar and absolutely shredding in front of the entirety of Gardenview, although obviously he didn’t have anyone to impress.

“When did a nitwit like you get so tasteful?!”

Glisten’s laughter faded as looked at Shrimpo with genuine intrigue. He expected a multitude of reactions from Shrimpo but this was the last one he could’ve anticipated.

“Rodger actually helped! He’s the one who picked out your colours!”

“You weren’t supposed to tell him that!!” Rodger interrupted.

“Well I thought he should know who helped design his colour scheme! Maybe he listens to that ‘New Metal’ like you!” Glisten smugly sipped from his tea.

“I- You- Glisten!!” Rodger turned to Shrimpo and stuck his hands up in defence.

“I don’t listen to Nu Metal! I’m not a loser! I would never listen to such a pretentious genre that insists upon itself so heavily. I only listen to real rock like Radiohead, Rush, and-”

“What’s Nu Metal!? I hate your confusing genre labels!” Shrimpo yelled in confusion.

Rodger lowered his hands, scouring his head for an answer that didn’t make him seem like a total dweeb.

“It’s like… you know Slipknot? Korn? System? Bizkit? That’s Nu Metal.”

Glisten shoulder bumped Rodger and smirked at him.

“My, my, Rodgie bear, how do you know so many of these?” Glisten teased.

Rodger blushed slightly.

“Stop misleading Shrimpo.” he shoulder bumped his partner, causing Glisten to giggle slightly.

“I don’t care about your ‘new metal’! How and why did you make me red?!” Shrimpo rubbed his arm, causing a little bit of the paint to smudge off.

“We were bored and waiting for you to wake up! Besides, you like it, don’t you?”

“I- I… don’t hate it!” Shrimpo shamefully admitted. In truth, he thought he looked sick. All Shrimpo was missing was a totally awesome spike collar and a pair of spiked bracelets and then he’d essentially own Gardenview with how cool he was. In fact, he was 99.9% sure that all the toons who disliked him would instantly die of shame if they saw how cool he looked at this present moment.

“How do I get this off though?!” Shrimpo began to scratch at his arm, causing the paint to start peeling off at his fingers.

“Just take a shower, silly! It washes off like anything else.” Glisten took another sip of his cold tea.

Shrimpo pulled his hoodie up and saw that the paint ended ¾ up his arm, the rest of his arm being his usual unchanged pink. Shrimpo was relieved to know that Glisten and Rodger hadn’t undressed him for this, but he was also a little disappointed that they didn’t complete his metamorphosis.

“Glisten! Are you able to recreate this makeup at a later date?!”

The mirror was a little surprised at his request, but he wasn’t one to deny an opportunity to get closer to Shrimpo and practise his makeup skills.

“Of course! What’s the occasion?”

“None of your business! Private business!” Shrimpo blushed, coughing a little bit as he did.

“Come onnnn! If I’m going to do this for you then I wanna know what it's for! Who knows, maybe I’ll put more effort into it if I know that it's a special thing.”

Shrimpo contemplated, looking at himself, at Glisten, at Rodger, before he finally sighed and explained.

“You know that thing Finn made you sign?”

“Mhm, the aquarium café?” he nodded.

“Yeah. Well…” Shrimpo awkwardly pressed his fingers together, avoiding eye contact with the toons.

“If that gets built, then I'm gonna visit it with someone and I need to look my best!” he threw his arms down to his side.

Glisten suddenly got extremely giddy, kicking his feet like an excited child and shaking Rodger who was apathetic to the situation.

“Is it a date?!” he asked excitedly.

“N-NO!! No date! Just- FOOD- DINNER- LUNCH- Whatever you call it!” Shrimpo coughed again.

“Oooh! Shrimpo’s got a girlfriend! You hear that Rodger? Shrimpo’s got a girlfriend!” Glisten shook Rodger a bit more.

“Mhm.”

“No! No girlfriend! I HATE talking to girls!” Shrimpo flailed his arms in rage.

“Wait- Wait- is it a boy?!” he asked with even more excitement.

Shrimpo blushed and began sweating, turning his head away from Glisten and crossing his arms.

“NO! I hate talking to boys too!” Shrimpo turned back at Glisten and pointed a finger at him.

“AND I’M NOT A DUMB QUEER LIKE YOU TWO-” Shrimpo’s yell caused him to begin coughing again, collapsing on the floor and holding his stomach as he coughed up a storm.

Glisten stood up, bent down, and pat Shrimpo on the back, trying to ease his cough.

“What was that, Shrimpy? I don’t think I heard that correctly!”

“GAY!!” Shrimpo coughed again.

“I SAW- -COUGH- I SAW YOU KISS RODGER!”

Glisten blushed slightly and averted his eyes momentarily. Rodger stared at Shrimpo in pure abject terror, his eye widening at his statement.

Shrimpo coughed more, gasping for air as Glisten continued to comfort him.

“Now, now, Shrimpo. We’re all friends here.”

Shrimpo’s head snapped up to Glisten at the suggestion.

“WE ARE NOT- -COUGH- WE ARE NOT FRIENDS!”

“Well that's a shame.” Glisten lifted his hand off, “I only do makeup for my friends!” he proclaimed smugly, crossing his arms.

Shrimpo looked at Glisten. He hated his cunning smile, his eyes that seeped into his soul, how bratty he was, how good he was at makeup, gosh he hated how talented he was.

“Fine!” Shrimpo pouted, his cough finally ceasing.

“Great!” Glisten grabbed Shrimpo and helped him up to his feet, directing Shrimpo’s attention over to Rodger.

“I want you to apologise to Rodgie-boo. Looks like you hurt his feelings.” Rodger sat shaking in his seat, looking over at Shrimpo with a weary eye.

Shrimpo reluctantly stepped over, offering his hand up to Rodger who moved his shaky hand over to Shrimpo’s and shook it.

“You d-don’t tell anyone about what you saw, okay Shrimpo?” he said shakily.

“I don’t care, I hate you the same whether you’re gay or not!” he shook Rodger’s hand aggressively.

“Y-Yeah well… the others… I-I don’t-

“Rodger’ll grow on you! Who knows, I think Shrimpo might be gay like you, Rodge!” Glisten chimed in.

“Will you shut up!?” Rodger snapped his head over to Glisten and released himself from Shrimpo’s grasp, Glisten giggling at Rodger’s reaction.

“What? He already knows that you’re gay!” Glisten giggled.

“That's twice! Twice you’ve double crossed me in front of Shrimpo! You’re lucky my foot is broken or you’d be dead! ” he growled at Glisten.

“How would you feel if I told Shrimpo that you used to have a crush on Finn-”

“Hahahaha- okay okay! Calm down there, Rodginator!” he reached his arm over to Rodger and patted him on the leg.

Shrimpo perked up at the last part of Rodger’s sentence, suddenly way more invested in whatever he was talking about.

“That’s what I thought. Now don’t out me to someone like that again. It hurts my feelings.”

Glisten bent down and gave Rodger a kiss on his cheek, “Okay, I promise.”

Shrimpo had chosen possibly the worst point in the conversation to start paying attention. He was grossed out by this public display of affection but there wasn’t much he could do about it, so he just sat there and waited for it to end.

“And stop doing that in public too!” Rodger blushed.

“But nobody else is here…!”

“In general!!” Rodger flailed his arms and legs.

Glisten smiled mockingly and stuck his tongue out. “Blepppp!”

“Can you guys hurry up and help me find the shark!? If I lose him then Finn is NEVER GOING TO FORGIVE ME!”

“Yada, yada, yada, okay, we’ll help you find your silly shark.” Glisten rolled his eyes in annoyance, “Where did you see him last?”

“I had him with me when I was in the kitchen!”

“Then we’ll go there!” Glisten replied with a smile and a thumbs up.

Shrimpo hopped off his chair as Glisten helped Rodger off his seat, the trio making their way out of Glisten’s room and into the kitchen, navigating the dark hallway until they finally reached the kitchen, the light still on from when they’d left.

Glisten sat Rodger down on a seat and pointed Shrimpo to the place where he’d passed out.

Shrimpo looked down at the empty space with a look of terror, his face overflowing with fear as he stared in disbelief.

“Why didn’t you take him with you!” Shrimpo scolded, “I’m dead! You’ve killed me Glisten!”

Shrimpo didn’t know what Finn’s reaction would be for certain, but if he got upset, he wasn’t sure if his little shrimp heart could handle it. Especially after all Finn had done for him. He knew Finn wasn’t the type to blow up in his face and start screaming, but if Finn cried, he would probably end up crying too.

“Hey! ! It’s the fault of whoever took it. Don’t blame your friends!” Glisten defended himself.

Shrimpo growled and raised his fist, his body shaking from how nervous he was. Glisten walked over and put his arm on his shoulder.

“Shrimpo, you’re overreacting. It’s just a shark, I’m sure he didn’t swim far-”

Shrimpo lightly pushed Glisten’s arm off his shoulder and looked up at him.

“It’s never just a shark! What if he’s gone forever?! Cod DAMN IT!” Shrimpo stomped his left foot in rage, shaking the kitchen slightly.

“Shrimpo. Things don’t just disappear, they just end up somewhere else. You’ll find your shark.” Rodger reassured him.

Shrimpo looked down at the floor, his whole body shaking as he thought endlessly to himself of what he would do.

“Rodgers right. You gotta stop acting bitter and just find him!”

Shrimpo looked back up at Glisten and then over at Rodger.

“The longer you sit here and cry about it, the less time you have to find him.” Rodger plainly stated.

Shrimpo thought about their words and what they meant, eventually nodding and turning around, “Maybe you’re right…!” he said, pointing a finger forwards as he marched with a newly invigorated sense of confidence.

“MR. JINKS HERE I COM-” Shrimpo took 2 steps before he broke down into another fit of coughing, falling to his knees and coughing into his arm.

“You want some tea, Shrimps? I’ll add more tooth rotting sugar just for you.”

Shrimpo turned his head around to Glisten.

“That would be nice…”

Chapter Text

“Wow, you really do make the best tea, Teesh!” Brightney took a sip from a teacup.

Tisha blushed slightly as Brightney’s compliment, taking a sip from her own cup, “Glad to hear you think so highly of my tea…”

Tisha glanced around the meadow they sat in, the gentle breeze causing the leaves of the tree they sat under to rustle, permeating the field with their relaxing sound.

Brightney sat her cup down on a plate on Tisha’s picnic table, brushing their hand through the flowers of the field and looking up towards the sky.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Brightney asked.

Tisha placed her cup down next to Brightney’s and looked up to where she was gazing.

“I’d say so!” Tisha smiled.

“What’s your favourite kind of flower?” Brightney said, looking back down to Tisha and plucking a random flower from the field, quickly tossing it back into the grass.

Tisha looked down at Brightney and thought for a moment, glancing around at all the flowers surrounding them.

“Gee, I’m not too sure Brights… hmmm…” she brushed her hand through the grass looking for a nice one.

“This one!” Tisha plucked out a red petalled flower with a yellow bulb in the middle, displaying it to Brightney.

Brightney took the flower from her and held it up to her eye, poking and analysing it as she deciphered what kind of flower it was.

“Looks like a Camellia to me.” Brightney handed Tisha her flower back.

“Well whatever it is, I think it’s nice!”

“May I ask what you like so much about it?”

“Oh, well lets see…” Tisha held the flower up to her face.

“Well, it's actually quite a stupid reason…” she blushed, lowering it to her lap.

“Oh it can’t be that stupid.” Brightney smiled.

“I just… think it looks nice!”

“Oh come on, there's gotta be more of a reason than that!” Brightney insisted.

“Not everything needs to have meaning, Brights! Sometimes things are just nice because they’re nice!”

“Yeah well sometimes it’s important to search for meaning in the things you like!”

“But I don’t wanna do that… I just like the flower.” Tisha said with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

Brightney wanted to debate with her further, but Tisha’s argument seemed valid enough. Brightney simply smiled and reached down into the grass to grab her own flower.

“I like this one!” She pulled out a flower consisting of a few clusters of small white blossoms.

“This one’s called the ‘Lily of the Valley’.” she smiled.

“Well I’d like to hear your explanation of why you like it so much.” Tisha said smugly.

“Well I love the white bell petals that sprout off it. I think it looks very pretty!”

“That’s just the same thing I said but more complicated!” she sneered, “If you’re going to rail on me for not having a better reason then I think yours should have some meaning behind it!” Tisha said playfully.

Brightney giggled at Tisha’s objection, “Alright, alright, fair enough.”

“Well, the flower is thought to symbolise joy and love. I think that's very nice.” she twirled the flower in her fingers.

“Also it features prominently in the fourth season of Breaking Bad! They’re poisonous too so don’t eat them.” Brightney said excitedly, looking over at Tisha.

Tisha over at her in confusion, “What’s Breaking Bad?”

Brightney shamefully lowered her flower in embarrassment, dropping it back into the grass below, replying with a “Nevermind…”

She looked around the meadow and spotted a flower, “Oh, there's this one too.” Brightney plucked out a blue trumpet shaped flower.

“This ones called the ‘Mexican Morning Glory’, or simply the Morning Glory.”

“And what do you like about that one?”

“Well, it’s a nice shade of blue, and if you flip it over like this…” Brightney flipped the flower upside down, “It sorta looks like a little blue dress!”

Tisha giggled a little, “I think you’re just as stupid as I am!” she said jokingly.

“Maybe we’re all a little stupid…” Brightney giggled, placing the flower down onto Tisha’s lap. As Brightney placed it down Tisha grabbed her hand, holding it tightly as she looked up at Brightney and smiled.

Brightney returned a smile back at Tisha, looking into her soft eyes and admiring her cute smile, bracing herself to say something when suddenly-

BANG BANG BANG!

Brightney’s eyes trudged open like a snail slithering on asphalt. She slowly sat up from her bed and looked over to her door which rang out with another series of knocks.

“BRIGHTNEY! OPEN UP!” the person knocked again, the individual loudly coughing after screaming Brightney’s name.

Brightney instantly recognized that voice. Brightney could be eighty years old and withering away in a nursing home and she’d still immediately recognize who was behind that door. What was he doing at her door? What time even was it? She slipped out of bed, turned on her light, and stumbled over to her door, opening it slowly and revealing a little Shrimp standing there, looking as angry as ever.

“Shrimpo, why- What time even is it-”

“I’m the one speaking!” he interrupted.

“Why are you red!?” she screamed.

“It’s a long story! Listen, just answer my question!” Shrimpo reached into his hoodie pocket, Brightney painfully sighing in annoyance as he did. In fact, she contemplated just closing the door in his face, but thought she should at least hear him out before doing such a thing.

“Have you seen him!?” Shrimpo pulled out a crumpled piece of paper with a crude drawing of a shark on it, shoving it in Brightney’s face.

“Last time I checked we didn’t have sharks in Gardenview. Is this some sort of prank?”

“It’s not a real shark! Don’t you see the stitch marks!?” Shrimpo pointed at a faint line running across the sharks side.

“Oh! Did you lose your doll?”

“I lost Finn’s doll, not mine!” Shrimpo stomped his foot in anger.

“And don't call it that! Doll’s are for girls! He’s a stuffed toy!” he pointed a crooked finger at her.

Brightney angrily groaned and looked down at Shrimpo, “Listen, I am not in the mood for this right now. I haven’t seen your shark, please leave me alon-” Shrimpo ignored her, trying to barge into her room uninvited which caused Brightney to slam the door on his foot.

“Let me in! I need to make sure you aren’t hiding him from me!” he pushed against Brightney’s door in defiance, though unable to overpower her due to his sickness.

“Why would I steal your shark? Genuinely, Shrimpo.”

“Because you hate me!” he continued to push against her door.

“Shrimpo, I don't hate you. The only thing I hate about you is when you act like this.” she ridiculed him.

Shrimpo stopped trying to break in and just sighed, looking up at Brightney through the door and trying to think of what Finn would do in this situation.

“Please…?” he asked sincerely.

“I can let you look around if it makes you feel better but you won't find him here.”

“Just let me take a look. I promise I won’t break anything.”

Brightney sighed and pushed the door open, Shrimpo waltzing in and immediately getting to work, beginning his search under Brightney’s bed.

“Hey Shrimpo, what's with the tone? You usually aren’t this quiet. At least in comparison to how you usually act.”

Shrimpo turned her head to face her, yelling “I’m sick! I can’t yell as much as I’d like to right now!” before immediately going back to searching.

Shrimpo was defeated, standing up and moving over to Brightney’s bedside table. Shrimpo opened the top drawer, nothing. Shrimpo opened the middle, nothing. Shrimpo opened the bottom, and nothing as usual. Shrimpo marched over to her closet next, opening it and seeing nothing of great value to him. Throughout this, Brightney stood in the centre of her room, tapping her foot and waiting for him to leave.

Finally, Shrimpo made his way to her desk, searching under it and then on top of it, coming out empty handed as Brightney had expected.

“Satisfied, Shrimpo?”

Shrimpo prodded at her laptop, lifting it up and searching underneath it for the slim chance that he’d find something under that microscopic space below it.

“Hey! Put that down!” she stepped over to Shrimpo, frightened that he’d find some way to break it.

“Why do you have a laptop!? Why do I not have one?!” he said angrily.

“I’m a librarian, you know. I use it to work from home.”

Shrimpo set it back down and looked up at Brightney with a look of curiosity on his face.

“Can I see it…?”

“I don’t have any games on there. None you’d care about anyway.” she crossed her arms.

“I’ve never used one. I wanna have a look!”

“Fine…” she sighed, sitting down on her office chair chair, flipping open her laptop, and typing in her credentials before hopping off and allowing Shrimpo to sit down on it.

“There. Go wild.”

Shrimpo was perplexed. Sure, he’d seen and even used some of the computers in the library, but they were all really old and used an ancient version of Gardenview OS which only allowed you to use its built-in apps. In comparison, this one was way faster and seemed to be on a completely different operating system, certainly a better one with way more desktop icons. Shrimpo navigated the cursor over to a mysterious icon he’d never seen before. It looked like a blue “E” with a yellow swirl striked across it.

“What is this?” he asked, turning around to face Brightney.

“Oh! That’s internet explorer! I’m not too sure what it's used for but apparently it needs an ‘Internet Connection’ which we don’t have down here, so it's pretty useless.”

Shrimpo nodded and turned back around, gazing at the myriad of icons on Brightney’s Desktop. He opened a folder titled “SHOW” and looked through it, the folder filled with countless “MP4” files with weird numbered names.

“And what's this?” he turned around again.

“Oh, these are episodes of the show! Look!” she bent down next to him and double clicked a random file, causing the Dandy’s World intro song to blare out of her laptop speakers as the intro played on the screen.

Shrimpo thought this was beyond cool. Why did Brightney have this and not the rest of them!? He skipped through the video and sure enough, it was an episode of the main TV Show, although it seemed to be an older one which lacked many characters who debuted in later episodes like Finn and Gigi.

“How did you get these!? Do you have every episode on here?!” he questioned.

“They’re all VHS rips that I put on here using a USB stick. I think I have all of them backed up here except for the pilot episode which I can't seem to find anywhere in the archives.”

“Good. I hate that episode! That episode sucks! I was on it.”

Brightney’s eyes lit up at Shrimpo’s response, “Woah, no way! Can you tell me what happens in it!?”

“No! It sucks so bad that your eyeballs would fall out of your lamp if I muttered even a word about it.” he snarled.

Brightney sighed in disappointment, continuing to watch the intro with Shrimpo.

“Anyways, aren’t you excited to be on camera again for the new season?” Brightney asked.

“Ehh… I’m not a big fan of being on camera. Maybe if I have a starring role then it could be fun.” he closed it and opened a different episode. This episode seemed to be from the newest season, featuring almost every toon.

“I remember this one!” Brightney proclaimed, stealing the trackpad from Shrimpo and skipping to a specific point in the episode.

Brightney appeared on screen. She sat on the floor of her library while reading a book. Suddenly, Shrimpo appeared out of the left of the frame, dragging a big bucket along with him before setting it down right next to Brightney.

“I HATE YOUR LIBRARY! BOOKS ARE FOR NERDS!!” Shrimpo yelled, picking up his bucket and dumping its contents all over Brightney, drenching her and her book in water while Shrimpo laughed, running off shortly afterwards.

“Heh, that was a fun episode to film.” Shrimpo giggled.

The episode continued as Brightney sat there in a puddle of water. Her character began crying when Tisha suddenly stepped into frame.

“Oh my goodness, Brightney! What happened?!” Tisha yelled, comically dropping her feather duster to the floor and sticking her hands up to her face with a shocked expression.

“Shrimpo threw water on meeee!” Brightney cried.

Tisha reached into her dress pocket and pulled out a small pack of tissues, unpackaging them and using one to wipe Brightney’s tears.

“That bully never learns! Bullies are the worst!” Tisha yelled.

Brightney paused the video.

“Hey Shrimpo, do you like anyone?”

Shrimpo looked at Brightney a little confused, “I-” he thought for a moment, contemplating whether he should tell her anything. Sprout and Cosmo already figured it out and didn’t care, so maybe she wouldn’t either.

“I like Finn. We’re… we’re friends.” he shamefully admitted.

“No! I mean someone you like! Someone you’re in love with!”

“Oh you little-” Shrimpo turned away from her and blushed.

“Unless Finn was your answer for that...” she sneered.

Shrimpo snapped his head back at her, “N-No! There's nobody I'm in love with!”

“Not even Finn?” she teased.

Shrimpo’s face flared up at her response, “W-Why don’t you answer first! That’s not very f-fair!” Shrimpo crossed his arms.

Brightney giggled a little before pointing a finger at the Tisha on her laptop screen, “Isn’t she so pretty?” she smiled.

Shrimpo pushed the chair closer to the screen and had a look at Tisha’s pixelated face.

“I don’t really care.” he said plainly, pushing the chair back to where it was originally.

“Good, less competition for me!” Brightney said excitedly.

Shrimpo blinked, looking at Tisha and then at the Brightney next to him. He hadn’t realised what she was referring to until now.

“Why is everyone in Gardenview gay?!” he yelled.

“What do you mean?” Brightney looked over at him in confusion.

“W-Well it's just-” he paused, thinking of a way to say this that wouldn’t offend Brightney.

“So many of you are gay! It’s ridiculous! Like there's Tisha and Teagan who were publicly dating not too long ago, there's Sprout and Cosmo who are obviously making out behind the scenes, and now there's you! And who knows how many others!” Shrimpo declared.

Brightney began to loudly laugh at Shrimpo’s gay meltdown, pausing to catch herself on her desk as she laughed.

“What's so funny!?”

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just-” she continued to laugh uncontrollably.

Shrimpo sat there and crossed his arms in frustration until Brightney eventually calmed down.

“It’s so dumb! Why do you care so much?”

“I-I don’t care! It’s just… something I’ve noticed recently.” he brashly insisted.

“Okay well time for your end of the deal! Who do you like?”

Shrimpo froze up, unsure of what to say, just staring at Brightney for moments, his brain feeling like it was frying itself as it tried to come up with an answer.

“Welllllllll?” she smirked.

“N-Nobody! I don't like anyone!” he pouted.

Brightney crossed her arms in frustration, “Well if you had to choose one person, who would it be?”

“S-S–Stop it! I already told you, I’m not into anyone!”

“That’s not what I'm asking, Shrimpo. I'm saying if you had to choose any toon to date, who would it be?”

“Well, I guess there's this one person…” he paused, pointing his eyes away from Brightney.

Brightney looked on in anticipation, excitedly waiting for his answer.

“H-He’s really-”

“Ironic, isn’t it?” she smugly interrupted.

“H-Huh?” he looked back up at her in confusion, “What are you getting at?”

“Oh, I don’t know…” Brightney audaciously rolled her eyes, “Maybe the fact that the toon that was having a tantrum about gay people is actually a raging homosexual-”

Shrimpo’s cheeks flared up with anger and embarrassment, screaming “I’m done with you! I’m not speaking to you anymore!” as he jumped off the chair and pushed past Brightney, running over to her door and scurrying out like a frightened cat.

“I’m finding my shark!! I hate you!”

She happily waved, yelling “Bye Shrimps! Hope you figure it out!” as he angrily slammed her door shut. 

Brightney lightly giggled, waltzing back over to her chair and diving into it, hitting the resume button on the video of her and Tisha. She smiled widely as she watched Tisha take care of her, the last thing she thought about before sinking into her world of comfort being how strange Shrimpo was acting. He was definitely hiding something…

Chapter Text

Finn slowly rose to life as Shrimpo’s alarm clock beeped. Today was a very special day, as Dandy was visiting them for the first time in weeks and he’d be here soon! He stretched his arms and sat up, ready for the new day as he hit the alarm, the clock reading “05:30” which was the time he usually woke at.

“Gee! This digital stuff is eely cool! I codda get one of these!” he tinkered with Shrimpo’s clock, pressing all the funny little buttons on it.

He stepped out of bed and stretched his arms again, looking around the room and noticing something strange on the floor.

“Hm…?” he walked over, bent down, and picked up the weird object. It was Shrimpo’s shirt, or at least one of them. It was laying on the ground in front of his closet.

“What are ya doin’ here little guy? Want me to take you back home?” he folded it in his arms, opening Shrimpo’s closet and seeing his array of identical red shirts.

“On second thought…” Finn contemplated, would Shrimpo really notice if he just took his shirt? Shrimpo steals stuff all the time and it’s not like Finn would do anything malicious with it, he just wanted a piece of his friend to keep with him.

“Ohhhh, I’m such an evil little Piranha! Hehe!” he closed Shrimpo’s closet and turned around, hugging Shrimpo’s shirt as he quietly left his room and made his way into the hallway. The hallway seemed empty, so Finn marched onwards towards his own room, quietly opening the door and slipping in so he wouldn’t wake Shrimpo, but Shrimpo wasn’t there for some odd reason.

“Must be at the library…” Finn whispered, walking over to his closet and shoving Shrimpo’s shirt in, hiding it under his pink sweater and his spare life vest. “I’ll figure out what to do with you later!” Finn said as he joyously closed his closet, feeling a little more devious than he did a few moments ago.

“Carp! The others!” Finn snapped his fingers and ran over to the fish bowl on his bedside table, crouching down to get a good look at the fish.

“How ya doin’ frys?” he tapped on his glass, a few of his fish swimming over to greet him.

“I missed you too! How did Shrimpo sleep? Did he get some deserved rest?”

The fish showed no reaction to Finn’s series of questions, continuing to swim around near the front of his tank.

Finn cracked open his bedside table and pulled out his bottle of fish flakes, twisting the lid off and sprinkling a pinch of them into the bowl. The fish all swam towards the food and ate it up, Finn watching on in joy as they ate.

“Barnaby! You’re coming with me! We have a big day ahead of us!” Finn reached his hand into the tank and pulled out the mechanical purple fish, plopping it into his tank with a splash.

“I promise I’ll fry my best to get a betta tank for you guys soon! I know it’s not ideal but it’s all we’ve got down here...” he gave his fish a sad look, ashamed at the conditions he had them living in.

“If I had it my way, you’d all be swimming in the best tanks that tapes can buy! I’ll clean out your tank as soon as I can!” Finn gave them a reassuring smile, “Don’t tell Dandy, but I’ve got a plan for you guys if I can get him to open that aquarium food place!” he whispered, giving his fish a sly wink.

“Captain Finn has to set sail now, hope you have fun while I'm gone!” he gave his fish a two finger salute and waved them goodbye, grabbing his petition clipboard from his drawer and leaping out of his room.

He quietly hummed as he plodded through the hallway when he spotted something strange at the end of it, in front of the last door on the right. Finn tilted his head at the strange sight.

“You’re gonna let me in and you’re gonna like it!!” the toon took a step back and charged at the door, hitting it with his shoulder and falling backwards. 

He got back up and pointed at the door, declaring “If you think that hurts then just you wait for round two!” before taking another step back and hurling his body at the door a second time, bouncing back and landing on the floor just as he had previously.

“Now get ready for my full power! This isn’t going to be pretty!” the toon stood up and took two steps back, bracing himself for impact as he tossed his weak and sick body at the door again, the past repeating itself as he fell to the floor again, the door undamaged and unmoving.

“Oh you bastard, you thought that was my full power? You’ve seen nothing yet! Take this!” He stood up and kicked the door handle, “And that!” he punched the door handle with his left hand, “And this!” he punched it with his right hand, “And for Shrimpo’s shrimptastic finisher!” Shrimpo ran backwards and charged at the door once more, jumping and hitting the front of the door with a drop kick, bouncing off like usual and hitting the ground with a thud.

Shrimpo groaned in pain before standing back up, “Ow… now you’ve really done it! You’ve made me hurt myself and now I’m REALLY ANGRY-” Shrimpo was cut off as he began coughing.

“As soon as I-” he coughed, “Get in there, I'm tearing you a new one Poppy! Just you wait until i-”

“Somebody's a little puffy!” a cheerful voice beckoned from his right.

Shrimpo turned to his right and GAH! Why was he here!?

“F-Finn! Hello!” he stood up straight.

“This reel-y is a new low for you Shrimples! Getting into arguments with doors now, arr we?” he lightly mocked, stepping closer to Shrimpo’s side.

“It won’t open, you bonehead! Why don’t you take a swing, wise guy?!” Shrimpo did a punching motion.

“Shrimpo, why are you red?” he questioned.

“Everyone’s been asking me that! Mind your own damn business!” Shrimpo growled.

“Well I’m a little concerned that my crustacean comrade is suddenly blood red! What happened?!”

“It… It was Glisten… He kidnapped me and did this to me!” he said with a hint of frustration in his voice.

“Does this just wipe off?” Finn giggled, dipping his thumb into the water in his head. 

“He said so. I’m not reel-y sure how-” Shrimpo abruptly paused as Finn ran his wet thumb across his cheek, wiping a bit of Glisten’s makeup off and revealing one of Shrimpo’s rosy cheeks underneath.

“Cut it out! I’d like it to stay on!” he blushed at Finn’s touch, pushing his hand away.

“Oh, sorry!”

Shrimpo crossed his arms and looked at Finn angrily, the two of them staring at each other for a few awkward moments.

“I like it! I think it looks really cool and it suits you!” Finn smiled.

Shrimpo’s blush grew in intensity as he averted his gaze back to the door, “Thanks… Now are you gonna help me or what?”

Finn stepped over to the door and crouched down, analysing the door handle.

“You know, you’re supposed to kick near the lock and not the front of the door or the lock itself?” he turned his head to face Shrimpo.

“That… makes sense. I hate doors! Out of the way, Finnsie!” he helped Finn to his feet, Finn stepping a few feet backwards as Shrimpo readied himself.

“Alright, in one corner we’ve got Shrimpo the Strong, the Splendor, the Sophisticated! And in the other we have Poppy’s room door! Who will succeed? We’ll just have to find out! Hit it Shrimpo!” Finn excitedly announced, pumping up his friend.

Shrimpo channelled all of his strength and charged ahead, letting out a battle cry as he pushed off the ground and leapt at the door with a jump kick, his foot colliding with the handle causing the door to burst open, Shrimpo falling through and hitting Poppy’s floor.

“Owww…” Shrimpo rubbed his backside.

“Looks like Shrimpo the Strong has become Shrimpo the Successful!” Finn peeked in, smiling as he looked down at the hurt Shrimp on the ground, “That was so cool!!”

Shrimpo smirked, pushing through the pain and confidently rising to his feet, flexing his arm as he did. Finn stepped over with a look of curiosity and gazed down at Shrimpo's arm.

“Woooow! You’re so strong, Shrimpo!” Finn reached his hand over and squeezed Shrimpo’s bicep, Shrimpo blushing feverishly as he did.

“A-A-Ahem! Back to the task at hand!” he swiped his arm out of Finn's grasp, pushing past him and crouching down to search under Poppy’s bed.

“Oh? What’s our task? I got too caught up in the door thing to reel-ise what we’re doing!”

Shrimpo scavenged around for a few more seconds before turning around to face Finn, “My task! Not yours!”

“No, our task! I’ll help you!” Finn bent down next to Shrimpo to assist him.

Shrimpo immediately ducked his head back under the bed to hide his red face from Finn, stuttering out a “R-Right…” before going back to searching.

Finn stuck his own head under and gazed around, “So what are we looking for?” he said excitedly.

Shrimpo was screwed. He didn’t wanna tell Finn what happened, how could he!? What if he told him and Finn died of a broken heart right there? He would probably end up following in Finn’s footsteps, and Shrimpo didn’t want to die!

“You’ll know it when you see it!” he assured Finn.

“Well you’re the boss!” Finn began fruitlessly searching, not having a clue what he was doing.

About a minute passed before Shrimpo finally withdrew himself from the confines of Poppy’s bed, sitting up with a sigh with Finn following soon after.

“Did you sea what you were looking for?”

“No! I would’ve said so if I did!” Shrimpo stood up, making his way over to Poppy’s drawer and opening it.

“What has you up so early by the way?” Finn pleasantly inquired.

Shrimpo ignored Finn’s question for the time being, confidently grabbing a can of Poppy Pop from her cabinet and trying to pierce the side with his finger, failing horribly at doing so as his hand squirmed around the can.

“What are you doing…?” Finn walked over to him.

“I-I’m trying to shotgun it! I-I-It usually isn’t this h-hard! Just g-give me a bit!” he muttered, continuing to furiously push down on the side of the can in a futile attempt to seem really cool.

“Let me try!” Finn reached his hand out for the can, Shrimpo sighing in defeat and handing it to him. Finn simply slid a finger under the tab of the can and opened it the normal way. “Here!” he handed it back to Shrimpo triumphantly.

“W-Whatever…” he reluctantly took the soda back, Shrimpo’s pride taking a significant hit as he did, the shrimp taking a very small sip out of embarrassment. Admittedly, the stunt was more about looking cool than it was about actually drinking the soda, but he drank it anyway to not look like even more of an idiot.

“It’s not here…” Shrimpo said sadly, taking another sip of his soda.

“Alright! Where to next?”

“I'm too tired to continue. I’ve knocked on everyone's door and I either didn’t get a response or they didn’t let me in. I only got into this one because you helped me!” he took a drink from the can, “I’ll just continue whenever everyone wakes up… makes it easier to get access to these rooms.” Shrimpo pouted, throwing his arms down to the side.

“Then what are we to do?”

“I don’t know…” he replied, lifting his hand up and gesturing for Finn to hold his hand, Finn quickly accepting and grabbing his hand as they walked out of the room.

Shrimpo took another small drink from the can as he let go of Finn and closed the door behind him.

“You want a sip?”

“Hmmm… I don’t know. I feel really weird whenever I drink anything carbonated like soda!”

“Suit yourself.” Shrimpo frowned, pressing his lips up to the top of the can and taking another sip.

“Actually… on second thought…” Finn grabbed the can from Shrimpo, “A little couldn’t hurt!” he exclaimed excitedly.

Shrimpo grinned slightly as Finn put his lips up to the can and took a soft sip, handing it back to Shrimpo shortly after.

“I wasn’t going to force you to.”

“And you didn’t! I just wanted to try it a little!” Finn replied, wiping his lips with his arm and letting out a small belch which caused bubbles to ripple through his body.

Shrimpo giggled as he raised the soda can back up to his own lips for another drink, thankful for the fact that nobody else (Particularly Glisten) was here to witness this interaction. The two of them sat in silence for a couple of moments, Shrimpo taking another sip of his soda before speaking again.

“Hey Finn.”

“Mhm?” 

“Tell me something I don’t already know about Shrimps.” he took another drink, leaning against the wall.

“Hmmm… let’s see here…” Finn stepped over and stood beside Shrimpo, trying to conjure up a fun fact that Shrimpo might enjoy.

“Did you know that a lot of shrimp species start their life as males before transitioning into females?”

Shrimpo took another sip from his soda, making sure that it looked like he was paying attention but trying to not make it look too obvious.

“Do you think it’s possible for the reverse to happen?” Shrimpo asked.

“I’m actually not too sure! I’ve never heard of such a thing but it could be possible!” he smiled, happy that Shrimpo was showing interest in his fish facts, let alone asking questions and engaging with them.

“You think she’s gonna be mad?” Shrimpo turned his head, looking at Poppy’s broken door, taking a final sip from the soda.

“Oh cod I didn’t even realise! She's absolutely going to be upset! You codda think about the feelings of others more! I don't know how many times I've had to tell you this!”

“You helped me break it down! I needed to find something and I came in!” he pointed an accusatory finger at Finn.

“I thought you had the best intentions in mind and I was too enraptured with how cool this whole thing was! I say you should’ve asked for her permission first!” Finn pointed his own finger at Shrimpo.

“Yeah well, you say a lot of things, and how does that work? You’re a fish bowl!” he scowled.

Finn gasped and put his hands up to his face, “Shrimpo!”

“Fine!” he shouted, “Take the rest of my guilt soda! I don’t wanna drink it anymore! I’ll apologise when I see her!” he shoved the empty can into Finn’s hands, crossing his arms and frowning. He wanted to deny Poppy an apology, but looking at her door, at the empty soda in Finn’s hand, and over at Finn's adorable little face, he did feel a little guilty.

“Hey! I didn’t even need to tell you to apologise this time!”

Shrimpo blushed, looking down at the floor in embarrassment and gritting his teeth.

“That’s progress!” he offered Shrimpo a high five, Shrimpo reciprocating after a few moments.

“Down low!” he lowered his hand, Shrimpo quickly responding and returning with another high five.

“Up high!” Finn stretched his hand up as far as it could go, Shrimpo almost instantly repaying him with a final high five.

“I hate how you make me feel bad for the things I do!” he yelled, crossing his arms.

Finn giggled, patting Shrimpo on the shoulder and looking into his eyes, “I’m glad I make you feel anything at all!” he spoke, brushing past Shrimpo and making his way to the kitchen. Shrimpo froze up as Finn walked past him, his body feeling tingly and his cheeks turning light red.

“You coming with me or what?” Finn paused in the hallway.

“Y-Yes! Coming!” Shrimpo 180’d and dashed over to catch up with Finn, “Where are we going?”

“The library! I wanna beat you in Mario Kart and we gotta kill some time before the D-man comes!”

“Right…” Shrimpo nodded, getting flashbacks to what happened last time they played. They walked side by side as they marched, Finn tossing the empty can into the kitchen bin as they passed it.

“Hey Shrimpo, where's Mr. Jinks?” he paused in the middle of the hallway.

“O-Oh! Ummm!” he placed his hand behind his head, scrounging around inside of his little shrimp brain for any sort of excuse. He couldn’t tell Finn because of the risk that he would die of a heart attack, so he decided he'd just avoid it for the time being.

“Can I hold onto him for a bit more?”

Finn smiled, “Sure thing! Hang onto him for as long as you’d like!”

Chapter Text

“Rise and shine, sleepyhead!” Sprout said eagerly, brushing his hand across his partner's head.

“Sprouuuttt… you gotta stop doing this… We just woke up! I’m n-not doing this with you right now…” he said playfully, blushing and smiling as he reached a hand out from under their blanket and gently pushed Sprout’s hand away from his face.

“Why not?” Sprout replied, affectionately leaning his head down to Cosmo’s level.

Cosmo reached his opposite hand out from under the blanket and brushed Sprout’s stem out of his face, “Your hair is covering your eye. You idiot… You need a haircut.”

Sprout ran his hand through his leaf, “I’m a little offended. I thought you liked the emo look!”

Cosmo chuckled, “It’s not emo, it's stupid…” Cosmo paused, wrapping his arm around his partner's neck.

“And I love you when you’re stupid…” Cosmo said sheepishly. Even Sprout was taken aback by Cosmo's unexpected remark. It wasn’t like him to speak so boldly.

“Cossy! What’s gotten into you?”

“I-I-I-” Cosmo stuttered, not sure why he’d say such a thing to his partner.

“I-I’m sorry!” he cried, grabbing the top of their blanket and hiding his beet red flustered face.

“Hey! It’s not a bad thing. Come on, don’t be like that. Don’t be sorry!” Sprout reached his hand out, grabbing Cosmo’s own hand softly and slowly lowering his blanket, revealing Cosmo’s small face on the verge of tears.

“I-I’m sorry… I-I j-just love you a lot and I-I just w-wish I could express that to y-you…” a shy tear dripped down his face as he connected eyes with his partner, pulling the blanket back over his mouth out of overwhelming guilt.

“Woah, hey, hey! It’s okay! Come on, you don’t gotta be sad over that!” Sprout reassured him, comforting Cosmo by gently stroking his head.

“I-It’s stupid! I know…” he whimpered, a couple more tears slowly cascading down his face as he sobbed, trying his best to avoid eye contact with Sprout.

“I don’t think it’s stupid at all.” Sprout spoke softly, scratching at the icing on top of Cosmo’s head. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

Cosmo’s eyes wandered back over to Sprouts, slowly lowering the Blanket from his mouth as he spoke, “C-Can we go on a wa-walk..?”

Sprout smiled warmly, “Of course!”

“Finn! You bass-tard! You can’t just-”

“What?? Do you have a prawnblem with the game mechanics!?” Finn exclaimed, slightly contorting his body to the right as his character drifted to the right.

“I have a prawnblem with how you ABUSE the game mechanics! You can’t just hold onto a red shell for that long!” Shrimpo angrily yelled, almost completely shattering the controller in his hand as he held it in a death grip.

“Stop getting your tunas in a school! It’s a part of the game so I’m gonna use it!” Finn said mischievously.

“If i played the way you did then I’d win every match!” Shrimpo grunted, slowly recovering from Finn’s attack and catching up to him.

“So you’re holding back for me?” he teased, passing a glance over at Shrimpo.

“N-N-No!” he blushed, “I just don’t wanna use an unfair tactic against toons, you Anchorhead! You’re a reel drag!”

“You really hyped yourself up, shrimp for brains! And now Finnegan is gonna win-again!” he joked, sticking his tongue out at Shrimpo mockingly as he blitzed towards the finish line.

“You haven't even won yet! I hate your joke!”

“Oh, boo hoo! You’re going under! This is what you get for underestimating me! Finn always wins but only sometimes-” Finn was cut off as his character was hit by a stray green shell, Shrimpo’s character blazing past him and ending the race as he crossed the finish line.

“Yeah yuh! Shrimpo always wins!” he declared, grinning and throwing his arms up in the air to celebrate his victory.

“You codda be squidding me! I was so close!” Finn complained. Despite losing again, Finn was having fun. Shrimpo had taught him how to actually play the game and improvement had already begun to show. He was a little frustrated that he wasn’t able to beat Shrimpo after so many rounds, but every race he played against him he got closer and closer to finally beating him, which motivated him to keep playing and encouraged him to strive for victory.

“That's 10 to none! Get destroyed, Finn!” Shrimpo boasted, lightly hitting his friend on his back.

“I almost had you there before you slipped off my hook!”

“You did not! There was a 0% chance of you winning that match!”

“Come on! If you hadn’t hit me with that surprise shell then I would’ve won so hard!” he playfully elbowed Shrimpo.

“Nuh uh!” he elbowed Finn slightly harder.

“Yuh huh!” he teased, elbowing Shrimpo with a little more force.

Shrimpo felt a sudden drowsy pain surge through his head, his brain throbbing with a weird sensation as a feeling of extreme tiredness befell him.

“Come on! One more race! I promise I’ll beat you this time! Then you’ll be a real sorry salamander!” he elbowed Shrimpo once more with increased force, but Shrimpo didn’t elbow him back this time, instead, he fell slowly onto the mat behind him.

Shrimpo laid on the ground, the blinding lights of the library burning themselves into his retinas as he stared at the blank ceiling above. He felt like he was ready to faint, but he was quickly brought back to reality as the lights in front of him suddenly became much dimmer as Finn’s head filled his view.

“Shrimpo! Oh my cod, are you okay!?” he yelled worriedly, pinning Shrimpo to the floor as he stared down at him from above.

Shrimpo couldn’t think straight, his eyes half open as he stared at his friends transparent head and noting the way the light elegantly passed through it, how it seeped through into the water inside, the way his tiny purple fish clanked around inside of him, sloshing around with his every move, the way his water abruptly stopped flowing near the rim of his head due to the nearly unseeable lid covering it, and the way his worried little mouth which hung agape as he looked down at him, like an angel, waiting to take him to whatever laid above Gardenview.

An image flashed through Shrimpo’s mind. It was wrong, he felt unimaginably ashamed even imagining it. How could he ever imagine such a repulsive, and disgusting thing between him and who he considered his best friend? No! It’s absurd! Utterly nonsensical and delusional. Yes, that's what it is. Filthy. Vile. Repulsive. But he couldn’t stop thinking about it. His questioning mind unable to derail his intrusive train of thought which haunted him like a lingering poison that had been festering inside of his brain for who knows how long. The worst part wasn’t that he was having these thoughts, it's that he didn’t hate them. He hated how he didn't completely hate the thought. If he died right there, the only regret he would have would be-

Shrimpo saw something out of the corner of his eye. Something orange. Something red. Something that was all too familiar to Shrimpo’s hazy mind.

He snapped out of his daze with all the grace of a train crashing into a tank of kerosene, feverishly jolting upwards in panic and accidentally headbutting Finn with a surprising amount of force, knocking Finn backwards.

Shrimpo jerked upwards and stroked the sore spot in the middle of his face where his face had collided with Finn’s. He sat on the library mat, his eyes closed and his face pulsing with pain, wincing slightly from the unnatural sensation washing over him. Shrimpo slowly opened his eyes and lowered his hand, noticing that Finn had fallen backwards onto the bean bag they’d been sharing and was rubbing his head in discomfort, a pained look on his face as he sat up and groaned.

He looked over to where he saw it, the apparition no longer lingering in the corner where it once stood crookedly. He shoved his worries aside for the time being and placed his hands on the floor, slowly crawling up to his friend. ”F-Finn! Are you-”

“Gah! Shrimpo!” Finn’s eyes shot open at the sound of Shrimpo’s voice, looking over at him and noticing Shrimpo in his own pained state. “A-Are you-”

“NO!! What about YOU! Are YOU okay-” Shrimpo’s speech was interrupted with a cough.

“No, Shrimpo! You! You’re bleeding! Look at yourself!” Finn wearily lowered his hand from his face and pointed at the other toon.

Shrimpo knew Finn wasn’t a liar, but he didn’t want to believe it. He had already embarrassed himself enough by breaking down and draining his tear bucket in front of him the other day, and now he was making an even bigger fool of himself by bleeding all over himself. He reached his hand up to his face and immediately felt what Finn was speaking about, rivulets of red water gushing from Shrimpo’s head as he pulled his hand down which was now caked with his own blood.

“Let me get that for you…” Finn reached his hand over to Shrimpo’s face and gently wiped his head clean with the palm of this hand.

“N-No! I d-don’t want your help!” he whimpered, weakly swatting Finn’s hand away as began to frantically gasp.

“Shrimpo! Just let me do this for you!” he tried once more to clean Shrimpo’s face, but was denied as Shrimpo swatted his hand away once more.

“No, you idiot! You’re so-” he paused, “I hate it when you act like this. You’ve done enough for me!”

“Every ocean has its storms and I’m not letting you drown!”

“Just let me sit for a bit! I’m-” Shrimpo rasped, his chest rising up and down with every panicked breath that escaped his lungs.

“I’m really overwhelmed, okay!?” he shamefully admitted, “And I- I-” he coughed, “I-I don’t want you bothering me!” his eyes darted frantically around the room.

Finn looked over, understanding Shrimpo’s plight and setting his arms down by his side as Shrimpo collected his breath, his hand on his heart as blood continued to slowly ooze down his face like a waterfall of sludge.

“Am I bothering you…?” Finn asked sheepishly, a sad expression on his face. 

Shrimpo almost fainted, he hadn’t even realised the implications of what he said. “Stupid brain! Stupid Shrimpo! I hate thinking!” he thought to himself, his Stupid brain too busy trying to protect his bottled up emotions and forgetting who he was speaking to. Finn had never hurt him, in fact it was quite the contrary. Shrimpo had hurt Finn so much and never apologised directly, and here Finn was asking if he was the one in the wrong.

“I-I’m sorry… I was only trying to kelp- I- I can leave if you-”

“No! Don’t go! J-Just…” Shrimpo outstretched his arms towards Finn, tilting his head away from Finn and closing his eyes out of shame, blushing slightly at his own request.

“What are you doing?” Finn obliviously questioned.

Shrimpo retreated his arms out of embarrassment, “N-Nothing!” he lied, crossing his arms.

“It’s fine if you want a hug! I just didn’t think you’d want one right now.” Finn replied, the two toons awkwardly staring at each other for a few moments as blood continued to trickle down Shrimpo’s angry face.

Shrimpo crossed his arms, “I don’t wanna get blood all over your c- YOUR STUPID LITTLE- Yeah- Your stupid little vest!” he poked Finn in the middle of his chest.

Finn slowly nodded, gently tearing off his lift vest and revealing the plain white shirt that he wore under it as he threw the vest behind him. “What about this?”

“You wear a shirt!?” Shrimpo frantically questioned, half expecting to see Finn’s bare chest laid bare in front of him.

Finn nodded in utter confusion, “Yeah…? Did you think I was shirtless under this?”

“Sort of…?!” he chuckled slightly through his heavy breaths at how stupid he was acting in the moment.

“...Do you still want a hug or-”

“YES!!” he coughed, “J-Just give me a-” he coughed again, “Give me a bit!”

He collected a few more worried breaths before slowly reaching his hand out, “Are you sure about this…?”

“I can sacrifice one of my shirts to make you feel better. I have a boatload of these, trust me!” he smiled, “You can even borrow a few if you ever need any!”

Shrimpo gulped, biting the bullet and pulling his body towards Finn’s, burying his head into Finn’s chest and wrapping his arms around him. This was always his favourite position to lay in with him. It helped him hide from the outside world which he hated so much, and the soft rhythmic beating of Finn’s heart made him feel at ease. To him, Finn’s embrace felt like a warm cup of tea on a cold winter night, somewhere he could feel safe and free from the judgements of the world. Right now, he was closer than ever to Finn’s heart, no tough life vest or oversized sweater to fight against that prevented him from listening to Finn's sweet and hypnotising clockwork chimes, only a thin layer of white fabric holding him back.

Listening to Finn’s heart slowly tick inspired him to try and imitate it, taking slow and deep breaths until he felt his own heart rate gradually decrease in accordance to Finn. At some point, he swore he even felt Finn’s beat in synchronisation with his own for a brief moment.

“Hey, Finn…” he asked, his voice muffled as he spoke through Finn’s chest.

“Mhm?” he stroked the back of Shrimpo’s head, running his digits across the curve of the tail which sprouted from the back of it.

Shrimpo pulled his head out of his chest, revealing the crimson portrait he’d painted across Finn’s upper torso with his face. “If I tell you something… promise you won’t get upset?” 

“Shrimpo… What did you do…!?” he said with a hint of concern.

“I… I- Ummm…”

Finn looked down at him, anticipating a response.

“I may have lost Mr. Jinks last night…” he admitted, his heart full of guilt as he eagerly waited for Finn’s reaction like a murderer awaiting their life sentence in court.

As he spat out his response, he felt Finn’s heart skip a beat.

“Shrimpo…” he said with a tinge of sadness and disappointment, continuing to tenderly stroke the curve of his head. “How did you lose him?”

“Umm… long story…” he whispered, trying his best to avoid Finn’s question.

“We have all the time in the world, come on Shrimpo!” he shook Shrimpo lightly, smearing more blood all over his white shirt as Shrimpo’s head whipped back and forth.

“Gah! O-Okay! I went out walking with him and it just sorta… happened!”

“What happened?!”

“I-I don’t know! I must’ve passed out and gotten picked up by Rodger and Glisten…”

“What happened after-”

“And for the record, Glisten makes the worst tea in Gardenview! It tastes like swamp water mixed with fish crap!”

Finn looked down at him, unamused at his sudden interruption and wondering how the hell Shrimpo would know what that tastes like. “And then what happened?”

“I- I don't know! They didn’t bring him with me whenever they picked me up and by the time we checked for him he was gone!”

“Well he couldn’t have gone far! Sharks don't just disappear like that, he's gotta be swimming around somewhere!” he reassured Shrimpo.

“I am a little upset that he’s gone but I know that we can find him!” he stroked the back of Shrimpo’s head once more.

Shrimpo felt like a total idiot. He thought he’d had Finn’s every reaction planned out in his head but he should’ve expected this from his best friend. Finn was never one to get angry and his optimistic wonder nearly never faded. He hated that about Finn, but part of him hated the fact that he hated that about Finn. Part of him wished he could be more like him instead of being the pessimistic crybaby that he was starting to believe he was.

He didn’t know how to react to Finn, so he just sighed, taking a deep breath and swallowing himself in Finn’s embrace again.

“Okay…” he spat out, his voice barely audible through Finn’s chest.

They sat there for another few moments when Finn suddenly felt a small spike of pain in his lower chest.

“Shrimpo…?”

Shrimpo snapped out of his daze, sitting up and taking his head out of Finn’s chest. “Huh!?”

“Did you just-” Finn let go of Shrimpo and grabbed the hem of his shirt, lifting it up and taking a look.

“Did you just bite me!?” he asked, laughing slightly as he noticed the small mark around his abdomen before looking back up at Shrimpo in amusement.

“I-” Shrimpo paused. He could already tell based on the heat he felt on his face that he was bright red. He wasn’t too sure of what he did either, it just sorta happened. He didn’t know how to respond!

“So what if I did!?” Shrimpo pointed a finger up at Finn.

“Why?” Finn laughed a little more.

“I-I’ll do it again!!” he randomly sputtered out as he looked Finn in the eye. “Don’t challenge the great Shrimpo!”

“No! No! D-Don’t bite me, Shrimpo!” Finn said playfully, continuing to laugh as he held Shrimpo’s head back, Shrimpo impishly chomping at the air like an angry piranha trying to chew on Finn.

“W-Woah! Shrimpo! C-Cut it out! I don’t want you biting me while you’re sick-” Finn yelped a little as Shrimpo got dangerously close to nipping him again. Finn mustered up his strength and pushed Shrimpo’s body backwards onto the soft library mat.

“What's gotten into you? You’re like a little shark now! Are you sure you didn’t absorb Mr. Jinks?” he giggled, laughing at his own joke.

To be truthfully honest, Shrimpo had no idea why he was acting like this. Maybe it was the strep, maybe it was because he was tired, maybe it was his thought earlier, but he never had any intention of actually biting Finn for a second time, only planning on using it as a way to tease Finn and make him laugh.

“I think we oughta get you a bandage, Shrimpo!”

Shrimpo angrily sat up and lifted his hand up to his wound, “I’m not bleeding! I don't need a stupid bandage!” he insisted.

“It’s still good to have one! Who knows what kind of plankton and infections are lurking around out there-” Finn paused as he noticed two toons in the corner, their expressions one of horror as they looked over at Finn and Shrimpo.

“Sprout! Cosmo! What’s kraken?”

“...”

“P-Please d-don’t hurt us…” Cosmo whimpered, hugging Sprout's side and closing his eyes in fear.

Finn looked over in confusion, “Huh…? What are you-”

Shrimpo snapped around and looked at the couple, “I’ll bleed on you too!”

It took Sprout a few moments, but analysing what Shrimpo said, looking at his wound, and looking at the stain on Finn’s shirt, he put the pieces together.

“I thought I told you guys not to be affectionate.” he grunted through his teeth.

“What??” Finn questioned, completely perplexed and confused on what he was talking about.

“I said no hugging! No hugging, cuddling, or-” Sprout paused, having a sudden epiphany.

“Did you two kiss!?” he questioned seriously, walking up to Finn and poking his bowl, causing Barnaby to swish around in his tank.

“I- I- Ummm-” Finn was astounded by Sprout's question. “Where is this coming from!?”

“I’m not trying to be funny, Finn! Did. you. Kiss Shrimpo!”

“N-No! I haven’t kissed anyone for cods sake!” he said shakily, overwhelmed by Sprout's sudden invasive series of questions.

“Did you do anything at all that could transmit an infection between you and Shrimpo!?”

“No! No! We didn’t do anything that-”

“I BIT HIM!!” Shrimpo shamefully shouted. In any other scenario, Shrimpo would take this to the grave. However, he knew that telling them what happened could help them treat his friend.

“You BIT HIM !?” Sprout screamed in shock, “WHY WOULD YOU BITE HIM!? I mean, what kind of relationship do you two-”

“Stop yelling at Shrimpo!”

Sprout sighed, “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’m just trying to help, but I need your full cooperation if we’re going to help you!”

Finn wearily nodded.

Sprout walked back up to Cosmo and bent down to his level to whisper to him.

“What do we do?”

“They’re screwed.” Cosmo plainly admitted.

“We didn’t swap spit, you morons! Stop whispering, I hate gossip!” Shrimpo flailed his arms around in rage.

“You may as well have!” Sprout retorted, “All your infected strep saliva is swimming around inside of Finn’s poor body and soon he’ll be sick just like you!”

“We did swap spit though!” Finn shouted obliviously.

“Wh-” Shrimpo snapped his head around, “WE DID NOT!!”

“But we did!”

“We didn’t!”

“We shared a can of cola, don’t you remember?”

“Y-YOU!” Shrimpo furrowed his brow angrily at Finn, “You make it sound like we kissed!”

“When did I ever say that!?”

“You didn’t say it, you implied it, buffoon!!”

“I- Huh? I don’t understand!”

“Finn! You’re one of the brighter people in this facility yet you’re too MORONIC TO UNDERSTAND-”

“Both of you, silence!” Sprout beckoned and crossed his arms, “I think we’re going to need to ask Dandy to get us some medicine for you two… I don’t know how much more of this I can handle.”

“What about Brightney?” Finn jokingly questioned.

“Brightney is stupid and she's a nerd!”

“Stop ignoring me! This is important, you two!”

“Zip it, Berryboy! Our discussion is importanter!”

Sprout sighed, already exhausted from having to hear these two ramble despite only being there for a few minutes. More specifically Shrimpo.

“Well this is going to interest you in particular Shrimpo, so listen up.”

“You two can do whatever you’d like. Kiss, share cigarettes, hug, bite each other, whatever. Shrimpo’s strep is already swimming around inside your system Finn so you two hanging around together isn’t gonna introduce anything new now that the both of you have the same bacteria swimming around inside ya’s.”

“And why would that interest me!?” Shrimpo questioned, offended by what he thought Sprout was insinuating.

“Because I thought you two were best friends! I’m just trying to be useful, Shrimpo. I didn't mean any harm.”

“Do you and Cosmo do that stuff?! Do you kiss? Do you bite each other?!”

“Why are you getting so d-defensive, Shrimpo? Got something to admit?” Cosmo said mockingly.

“Because I’ve never kissed Finn, you lumbering whale!”

“Hey, are you making fun of Cosmo’s weight again!? I’ll show you what a-” Sprout cut himself off as Cosmo shook his arm, “Y-You don't need to stand up for me all the time! I can handle this myself…”

“Okay well I’m sorry. I’m very protective over things I love.”

Shrimpo wanted to yell something in retortion but right as he was about to, he heard a sound echo throughout the room.

Ding ding! It was the Gardenview intercom.

“Hello mains and gentle toons! Dandicus here!” a cheerful voice announced.

“Would everyone please make their way to the projector room within 10 minutes? I’ve got a special presentation for everyone!”

Shrimpo winced at the sound of Dandy’s voice. The others had no strong reaction.

“This is Dandicus Dancifer, signing off! Can’t wait to see you there!”

They sat in silence for a moment when Sprout raised his voice.

“Well would ya look at that. I think that's our cue to go. See you guys there!” he said as he grabbed Cosmo’s hand, speed walking away from the sea toons.

“Hey, get back here!” Shrimpo yelled, standing up to go chase them.

“Shrimpo! Wait a second!”

“What!!” he halted, turning around to face Finn who was getting up from the bean bag.

“We betta get you a bandage-”

“I. DO NOT. NEED A BANDAGE. SHRIMPO IS STRONG!”

“And we need to get you cleaned up! Your makeup is fading like writing in the sand.” he walked up to Shrimpo and poked him under his eye.

“I need a new shirt too! Look at me! I look like I’ve just krilled someone!”

Shrimpo huffed and sighed, accepting his fate and letting Finn walk him back to the elevator. But there was no way in hell he was letting Finn wash him.

Chapter Text

The elevator brushed past the other floors as it arrived at the projector room, two toons stepping outwards and into it. They stepped out together and rounded the corner and walked the long stretch over to the projector area. When they eventually made it to the designated area, they were greeted by another toon.

“Hey guys! Take a seat and enjoy the presentation!” Shelly said enthusiastically, handing the two of them a 500ml bottle of water as they passed her.

The projector room had been completely cleared out with a row of foldable steel chairs lined up where there had been a couple of chairs and bean bags. The majority of the toons were already there, though there was one noticeably missing.

“At least we aren’t last, Teesh!” she said playfully, walking into the very back row of chairs and stealing the last chair that had another free spot beside it which happened to be in the middle of the row, Tisha sitting down next to Brightney shortly after.

Brightney didn’t pick a particularly good seat due to the person in front of her blocking her view, more specifically, the big orange tail jotting out of the back of their head like a croissant. But it didn’t really matter to her. It was very likely that Dandy would just spout the same stuff he always does during his presentations which Brightney had already carved into her brain after enduring a countless amount of Dandy presentations.

Shrimpo madly tapped his foot, his arms crossed and his brow furrowed as he eagerly waited in anticipation, occasionally glancing behind himself and looking over to the elevator before looking back over to the empty spot a few rows in front of him where Dandy usually stood.

“Psst, Flutter! Are you gonna drink that?” a voice asked from his left. Shrimpo ignored them and cracked open his own water, taking a small sip and setting it back down on the floor.

“Thanks Flutz!” the feminine voice said cheerfully.

A few more minutes passed as the toons spoke amongst each other before another person entered the room, the one Shrimpo had been waiting for.

Finn walked up the small staircase with clipboard in hand and accepted Shelly’s water bottle in the other, almost instantly spotting Shrimpo and making his way over to his row.

“Shrimpo! You look great! Nice job cleaning up!” he shouted from the end of the aisle.

“I just ran the water over my face.” he said plainly, trying to hide his excitement as his friend slowly began inching closer, passing the other toons along the row and almost almost tripping over the leg of one before catching himself and continuing his odyssey towards Shrimpo.

“You look good too…” Shrimpo said meekly, “Now are you gonna sit down or what!?”

“Of course! Just give me a-” Finn couldn’t even finish his sentence before a bright yellow toon hopped over the empty chair next to Shrimpo and sat down next to him.

“Oh…”

“Glisten! You greedly little yellow piss ant- What the hell!?”

“Sorry! I needed a seat next to Rodgie-Boo!” he said frantically, his voice breathless as he wrapped his arm around Rodger. “Did you see that awesome chair vault?” he asked, looking over at Rodger who gave him a nod and a disinterested “Yeah.” in response.

Shrimpo wasn’t homophobic, but if he was, he’d be the greatest homophobe to ever live based off of the things he contemplated saying to those two right then and there. He also really felt like coughing on them too but he didn’t wanna potentially start a strep pandemic in Gardenview. “Glisten. I suggest you pack your bags and learn to drive because you are not stealing Finn’s seat! I’ve been guarding it for so long and I'm not having a queer-”

“Sorry Shrimps. You can have it at the next presentation!” he said pleasantly, appearing genuinely sorry for the intrusion but still unwilling to give up his spot next to Rodger.

“Cod damn it…” Shrimpo grumbled under his breath, giving Finn a disappointed look as he sheepishly shuffled his way out of the lane and down to the bottom lane, sitting on the last chair on the left.

“Yo, Finn is waving at you!” a voice to his left whispered.

Shrimpo snapped his head over in Finn’s direction but spotted him just sitting there bored. Now this was strange, what was this strange lady talking about?

Shrimpo felt an elbow gently strike his abdomen, “Made ya look!” a devious voice whispered

“OW- What- What the hell!?” he grunted, clutching his chest with his free hand and letting out a single cough.

“That one always gets em.” she said snidely, opening up the lid on her head and throwing Flutter’s water bottle into it.

Shrimpo looked at the toon for a few seconds, “Who are you again!?”

“Awfully rude to forget someone's name like that, innit?”

“It’s not rude if I never knew it, capsule kid! I’ve never spoken to you in my life!” he angrily cracked open his water again and took a small sip.

“Apologies. Names Gigi, pleased to make yer’ acquaintance!” Gigi said as she outstretched a sleeved hand to Shrimpo.

Shrimpo reluctantly shook her hand, trying his best to avoid eye contact with her as he did. “Shrimpo.”

“Oh, I already know who y’are!”

“How do you know who I am!?”

“One of them toon handler people told me who all of ya’s were when I first got here a few weeks ago.”

Shrimpo nodded.

“They told me you hated everyone though. What about the blue guy?”

Shrimpo became slightly agitated, “He has a name. His name is Finn-”

“I know his name, dummy! I just thought referring to him as ‘The Blue Guy’ would be funny.”

“I hate your sense of humour! It sucks!”

“Pssh. You didn’t answer me.” Gigi stuck her tongue out.

“I don’t need to!! It's none of your business!”

“He your boyfriend or somethin?” Gigi said mockingly.

Shrimpo felt his face turn a little redder, “You got a death wish or ‘somethin’?!”

“Hey, let's not yell here Shrimples! Your secrets are safe with me!” Gigi did a shushing gesture with her sleeved finger. She was clearly playing with him.

“GIGI!!” he yelled, loud enough to where everyone in his general radius could hear him, “I swear to cod. He is not my boyfriend! He-”

“Hey, Calm down! I was only joking!”

“Your joke sucks! I hate your joke! It’s disrespectful, abhorrent, and in poor taste! The nerve of people like you!”

“Pshhh, okay.” she rolled her eyes, annoyed at how uptight Shrimpo was acting. “I can’t say I blame you though. He’s actually quite handsome.”

Shrimpo’s head slowly turned to face Gigi, “Do you have a crush on him or something!? Are you gonna try and shove him into that head of yours and kidnap him!? Steal him from Gardenview!? Is that why you’re here!!? Are you a spy!!”

“I said handsome, not attractive. Besides, I’ve already got my eyes on someone else!” she snidely winked at Shrimpo and grinned.

Shrimpo’s muscles eased up and he nodded. “Okay, but he isn’t my-”

“Do you think he's handsome too?”

“I-” he thought for a moment and turned away from Gigi to glance down at Finn who was a few rows down from him. He imagined Finn in his head and considered every detail of his appearance like he had done before several times. His big bubbly eyes, his soft gentle skin that contrasted heavily with his big bulky glass head. That was always sorta weird. Where does the glass end and the gentle and precious soft skin-like substance begin? He actually felt bad for subconsciously biting him in the stomach earlier but Finn didn’t really seem to care. In fact, it seemed like Finn thought it was kinda funny, which Shrimpo himself thought was kinda funny. Maybe he’d do it again sometime, he thought to himself mischievously.

“I-I guess so…?” he turned back to Gigi, the two of them exchanging awkward glances for a few moments.

“Come on! Don’t you wanna know who my crush is?” she asked inquisitively, gently kicking the side of his foot.

Shrimpo rolled his eyes, “Will you leave me alone if I act like I care?”

Gigi sighed and slumped against her chair, “I’m just trying to get to know you better! Some friendly conversation never killed anyone! I wanna be friends with everyone! Is that really so much to ask?”

Shrimpo didn’t care for gossip of any kind. He thought it was childish and he was a big strong shrimp and Gigi wasn’t the first person who claimed to want to befriend everyone. Nevertheless, he had nothing better to do, and Finn would probably be happy to see him speaking to another person other than him.

“Fine. Who is it?” he said with slight annoyance in his voice.

“It’s a secret!”

“Wh-” he was caught off guard by the sudden shift in her personality. “Why even bother asking me if you’re just gonna dodge the question!?”

“I’ll give you a hint. It’s a girl!”

Shrimpo’s brow furrowed and his eye twitched. “ANOTHER ONE!? This is getting ridiculous! EVERYONE IS GAY! EVERYONE!!! I’m convinced there isn’t a single person here who's attracted to the opposite gender.” he thought to himself. At least his theory was getting more validation, which validated him and his impressive intellect. “Okay.” he said through his teeth, trying to stop himself from saying anything.

“So, who's your crush, Shrimpo?”

“Is that all you people talk about?!”

“Hm? What people?”

“You- You… You gays! Brightney was trying to talk to me about it and now you are! Is there anything that you guys care about besides girls and who I have a crush on!?”

“Brightney is gay?” Gigi raised an eyelid.

“Brightney isn’t interested in you! She has her eyes on someone else!” he crossed his arms.

“I never said I was interested in Brightney? Who’s she into?”

Shrimpo felt a gentle kick to the back of his head, “Don’t go spilling all my secrets to strangers, Shrimpo!” Brightney said with a disapproving expression and tone of voice. She jotted her eyes in Tisha’s direction and then looked back at Shrimpo.

He snapped his head around, contorting his body slightly as he did. “Brightney!? I- I didn’t even notice! I wasn’t gonna tell her! I just met this crazy British lady!”

“Oh so the British have come to colonise Gardenview too?” Brightney said jokingly as she leaned over Gigi’s shoulder, causing Tisha to laugh a little.

“Do you know what a British person sounds like!?” Gigi frantically questioned, turning around to face Brightney and pointing a finger in her face. “Because that isn’t me!”

“I think the British are kinda cool…” Tisha said quietly.

“Their version of the office is kinda eh. The American version is waaayyy better!” Brightney responded.

“There’s an American version of that show?” Gigi questioned.

“I hate offices!”

“How queer of you that you don’t know about the American office. Are you sure you aren’t British?” Brightney mockingly joked.

“I am not British. That is that. Does ‘Gigi’ sound like a Brit’s name to you?”

“It could be. Where are you from then?”

“I don’t know! I just got here, man!”

“Then you don’t know if you aren’t British, you’re just assuming that you aren't.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m not british. I’m done discussing this with you!” Gigi graciously turned her back on Brightney.

Brightney sighed, “Hey Shrimpo, what's with the bandage?”

“I hurt myself!”

“...how?” Tisha inquired.

“I-I got into a fight! I won! Shrimpo always wins!” he confidently spat out the first thing that came to mind, obviously not able to tell them the real origin of his new scar.

“With who?” Tisha reached into her dress pocket.

“None of your business! But I won!”

“Did you get into a fight with the wall? Heh.” Gigi bantered.

“Fucking hate gay people.” Shrimpo contemplated saying at that moment.

“You’ve got a bit of blood there…” Tisha pulled out a small handkerchief and wiped Shrimpo’s forehead.

Shrimpo whimpered slightly as Tisha brushed past his bruise, muttering out a tiny “Thanks…” as her hand ran past it. He contemplated saying more but he stopped as he noticed Brightney acting rather odd. Shrimpo watched as she hastily reached under her chair and pulled out her water bottle, quietly snapping the lid open and splashing a bit of water on her stomach.

“Oh no!” she said obliviously.

“Ah! Not you too Brights! Let me get that for you!” Tisha finished her course on Shrimpo’s face and moved her hand over to Brightney, lightly brushing her handkerchief against her soaked abdomen.

“Thanks Teesh. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” she smiled.

Tisha looked up at Brightney with a cheery look on her face, “No problem! Always happy to help you!”

Brightney looked up at Shrimpo who himself looked at her with accusatory eyes. She could tell that he was judging her internally, but she knew that Shrimpo most likely wouldn’t say anything, which was proven as he simply grumbled without another word, spinning back around and away from Brightney.

A few more awkward moments passed when Gigi passed another glance over to Shrimpo, noticing that he was staring off in another direction, seemingly lost in thought. She matched Shrimpo’s gaze and looked over in that direction. Shrimpo was looking at Finn. With the way he looked, it seemed like he was stargazing, somehow lost in the grandeur of whatever he saw in the back of Finn’s fish bowl. She mimicked his sitting position and held her head in her hand, gazing down at Finn.

Shrimpo momentarily glanced over to his left and saw Gigi looking down at Finn and snapped out of his daydream. “W-What are you looking at!” Huh, Gigi!?”

“Fishie! Purple fishie!” she said innocently, pointing down at Finn from the confines of her seat.

“Oh. You’re right.” Shrimpo looked back down and noticed Barnaby Wilikers clanking around inside of his enclosure. He was a little surprised at how he hadn’t noticed him before.

“I actually have a few fish myself!”

“Maybe I should introduce you two at some point.” Shrimpo said with a surprising amount of interest.

“Not real fish! Like little silly toy ones. I have a few that I would like to keep in here.” Gigi popped open the top of her head and pulled out a small blue anglerfish plush. “Look! Pebble gave him to me!”

Shrimpo glanced over to the object in her hands, “What’s his name?”

“His name? I don’t know! If you can think of a good one then I'll let you keep him!”

He looked down at the fish and thought for a moment. He was about to spit out some absolute nonsense that he’d just thought up when suddenly a clap echoed throughout the room.

“Hello everyone! Right on time! Just as promised!” a voice declared from behind everyone. All of the toons turned around and were greeted by the sight of Dandicus Dancifer and his toon handler. Shrimpo couldn’t recall the last time he’d seen or even thought about those guys. They gave him the creeps. He thought humans in movies and comics were fine but something about the toon handlers really made him uneasy. It’s not like they’d done anything wrong, it's just that Shrimpo didn’t particularly like them. He couldn’t even remember their names. What was this guy's name? Shrimpo thought about it for a second before realising that he didn’t care and gave up on that line of thinking. It looked like he had grown his hair out ever since he’d last seen him, looking like those big fluffy dogs with curly fur more than a human. How broke is this guy to where he can’t even afford a haircut? Dandy must be paying these guys abysmal wages. Shame on thee Dandicus! Shame on thee!!

Dandy and his human danced up the stairs and in front of the white projector board. Dandy struck a pose and his toon handler clicked a remote in his hand, causing the projector to turn on and display the Dandy’s World logo on the white wall above them.

“Long time no see! How are we all today?” Dandy gave nobody the chance to answer his question and suddenly said “Hope we’re all doing great! This is very important, so everyone listen up!”

“You don’t need to listen. It’s the exact same thing every time” Shrimpo whispered to Gigi.

“I think you forget who I am.” she said lightheartedly, “I haven’t appeared on the show yet so I think it’d be better if I listen.” she tossed the anglerfish back inside her head.

Dandy’s toon handler clicked a button in his hands and the projector flicked to an image showing all of the TV shows cast together in one photo. “Now, I’m sure we’ve all met her and I’m sure we all love her! But just in case, meet the cool new toon: Gigi the Gachapon!” his toon handler presses the button again and suddenly Gigi appeared amongst the series of toons on screen. “She's super cool and I hope you’ve all been only the nicest of people towards her! This seasons gonna be her first so make sure to be kind to her on set!” Dandy grinned.

“Look! That’s me!” Gigi whispered and she elbowed Shrimpo, pointing up at the screen as she did.

“Do you think I’m blind or something!?”

“Just need to make sure you aren’t going senile on me!” she joked. Shrimpo grumbled a little bit in frustration, not finding much entertainment in Gigi’s stupid joke.

Dandy’s presentation began to fade from Shrimpo’s head as his mind was attracted to another sound coming from his left. He carefully looked to his side and saw Flutter and Gigi giggling amongst each other. Flutter was making her usual rick-tick-tickety sounds that she always makes and Gigi seemed to be listening intently to her nonsense.

“Gigi what the hell are you doing!? I thought you were supposed to be listening to Dandy!”

“Shh! Don’t interrupt our conversation! Very important girl business!”

“!...” Flutter looked over at Shrimpo.

“You can understand that thing !?”

“She has a name you know!” Gigi retorted, Flutter replying back with her own series of angry sounding Flutter noises.

“Teach me how to do that! I hate not being able to understand her nonsense! What is she saying about me!?”

“!!...!?”

“Jeez! Yer’ a savage, Flutz! What did Shrimpo’s mother ever do to you? I’m glad you’re on my side!”

“...!”

“That’s very flattering Flutter but I think we should stick to the conversation at hand.”

“What’s she saying!? I hate being left out! Tell me right now or else!”

“!.!.!.!” Flutters brow furrowed slightly.

“Finn? What does he have to do with this?”

“Keep his name out of your mouth, lady!”

“It’s nothing mean! I promise!”

Flutter squeezed out what could only be explained as a pile of leaves being aggressively stepped on as she kicked her feet.

“Right…But what is she saying about Finn?!”

“!”

Gigi’s eyes widened slightly and she chuckled. Shrimpo could even hear Brightney from the seat behind him laughing a little at Flutters statement. 

“Is that really true?!” Gigi questioned.

“Brightney! I can trust you, right!? What’s she saying!” Shrimpo turned his body back around to face Brightney, his face slightly red as he thought of all the things Flutter could be saying about him and Finn.

“O-Oh! Ummm- S-She’s just saying that she saw you and Finn hanging out! That’s all!”

“Flutter!! That- That did not happen!” Shrimpo turned back around to face Gigi and Flutter. Brightney heaved a sigh of relief. If Shrimpo was reacting this harshly to a lie she made up on the spot to lessen his agitation, who knows what he might’ve done if she told him the truth. She couldn’t imagine what he’d do if he found out what Flutter said about Finn.

“A-he-hem! I hope everyone been listening intently to my presentation because I just finished! I know, too soon, too short, but fear not! It’ll only get better from here!” Dandy shouted with a tinge of anger in his voice, noticing the group of toons chatting amongst each other and subtly trying to draw their attention back over to him.

“Anyways! I’m sure the kids are gonna love Gigi and all the fun things we’ll be doing in the new season and I hope you all do too! Feel free to grab another sip of our complimentary Dandy’s World brand water from our wonderful Shelly and have a toon-tastic day!” The room lit up into an array of applause and cheering as Dandy let out a bow and smiled. Frankly, it was way too much noise for such a small room. In fact, Shrimpo swore that he heard more cheering come from the speakers above him than the crowd in front of him.

“I’ll be here if you have any questions! If not, feel free to leave!”

Multiple toons got up and shuffled out of the room, including Shrimpo. He sat up and tried to squeeze past Gigi but was blocked as her legs rose like a guardrail. “Not yet! Look who's coming!” Gigi pointed a sweater covered hand over to a row down from them. Finn had just escaped from his row and was rushing up to Shrimpo’s like an excited cat.

“Shrimpo! We don’t have much time! We gotta get up there and get Dandy to sea how much we need this aquarium thing!” he arrived at Shrimpo’s row and was excitedly jogging in place.

“One moment! If someone would let me pass her then I could!”

“Hey Finn, wanna hang with me and Flutzy for a bit after you’re done with him?” Gigi kicked back and put her feet on top of the now empty seat in front of her.

“Oh? Sure! That sounds fin-tastic!”

“Can I come too?” Brightney inquired.

“I wanna go if you’re going, Brights!” Tisha insisted.

“I’m going too then!” Shrimpo asserted.

“Even better! Okay Shrimpo, you go do that.” Gigi lowered her legs and graciously let Shrimpo pass her. He almost instantly clung to Finn’s side and they walked up to speak to the big man, clipboard in Finn’s hand as they confidently strut towards him. “Remember, Shrimpo! If he tries to fight us then-” Shrimpo nodded, punching playfully at the air and smiling at Finn. “Just like that!” Finn said, the two of them sharing a hearty giggle.

Gigi turned around and draped her sweater over the back of the chair she sat upon. “Aight, we all just heard what Flutz just said, right?”

Glisten butt his head in, bending his own head over the back of his chair. “She said Finn likes to mumble Shrimpo’s name in his sleep, right?”

Brightney cackled, Gigi joined in, Tisha stared in confusion, so did Rodger.

“!!”

“Oh yeah. I forgot your room’s right next to his. Loud sleeptalker, is he? Or thin walls. Who knows.” Gigi shrugged.

“These walls barely hold any meaning. They may as well tear them off entirely! I hear that boy sing sea shanties to his fish every night before bed.” Glisten added, banging quietly on the back of the chair with his knuckles.

Rodger traded a confused glance with Tisha and looked back up at Glisten.

“What do you think it means?” Gigi asked, rocking back and forth in her chair.

“...?!”

Glisten, Brightney, and Gigi all shared a laugh at Flutter’s statement, the four of them glancing over at Finn and Shrimpo as they approached Dandicus Dancifer.

Chapter Text

“Dandy!! You are going to build an aquarium for us and you are going to like it!”

“Listen! I'm really sorry guys but I don't think that's in our budget!”

“You’re lying! Brightney has had who knows how many library expansions and you can't dig out a single room for us!? Dandicus Dancifer, more like fatticus lieifer!”

“I’m sorry! I really am! The last season really didn’t do as well as the producers thought it would so they’ve pulled back our budget til we can recover our losses.” Dandy awkwardly admitted.

Everything Dandy said just passed right through Shrimpo’s brain and went right through Finn’s too. Dandy thought that they probably fought over one collective braincell. No matter how much he tried to de-escalate, he doubted that they would understand a lick of it.

“Even Sprout, Astro, Vee, Pebble, and the other guy want it built!” Shrimpo yelled.

“I really do apologise but-”

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall! Make em’ walk the plank, Shrimpo!” Finn announced like a judge declaring a death sentence down onto an innocent person who was only guilty of looking funny.

Shrimpo got ready and growled, ready to pounce on Dandy and tear his petals to shreds when his toon handler stepped in.

“Hey, hey, hey! No fightin', fellas!”

“Who made you the call of justice, huh!?” Shrimpo pointed an angry finger up at the human, “I know you don’t get paid enough to look after him! Wave me away with your prayers because Dandy is going to build our aquarium whether he likes it or not! I bet your name is Casey or Ross or something stupid like that! I doubt you get paid at all! How does 8 bucks an hour sound?! Huh!? What about 7? 6 even?!”

“Stop insulting my innocent handler and I'll offer you an ultimatum, Shrimpo! And you too Finn!”

The two toons crossed their arms and eagerly awaited a response.

“We can convert Cosmo and Sprout’s restaurant into what you guys want but only if they both agree to it and only while we’re filming! It’ll be like a special thing for shark week or some other holiday! As soon as we’re done filming this season we’ll have to go back to the old one!”

“But what about the fish? What’ll hap-fin to them whenever you tear it down?!”

Dandy put his hand up to his cheek and looked over at Finn. “Where do you think they should go? You know fish stuff better than I do.”

“You release them into the ocean! And make sure they’re good spots too! Don’t go throwing the fish into dirty lakes or me and Shrimpo are going to krill you! For reel! Or worse!” Finn attempted to crack his knuckles but found no success, just awkwardly pressing his fist against his palm as he looked at Dandy.

“Okay! There's really no need for all this! Let's tone down the anger for a bit! Okay? Yes, yes, yes? You’ll get your place if Cosmo and Sprout want it! Please stop threatening my life, good toons!”

“Hooray! Hi-five, Shrimpo!” Finn raised his hand high up, with Shrimpo reciprocating his request almost instantly. Finn handed Dandy his clipboard and glanced back over to Shrimpo with a smile.

“Suck it, Dandy!” Shrimpo stuck his tongue out and turned to face Dandy.

“Okay, I think that's more than enough Shrimpo! Let's clam down!” Finn gave Shrimpo a gentle pat on his back, causing him to instantly holster his gesture and look up at him angrily.

“Fine! Let’s go.” Shrimpo said. Finn grabbed his hand happily and walked with him down the row of chairs. Dandy and his handler quickly faded out of their minds and both became entirely absorbed in each other as they strolled hand in hand.

“Good job with the intimidation, Shrimpo! Although I do think you went a bit far there…” Finn chuckled.

“Oh. Okay.” Shrimpo said plainly. Admittedly, he’d completely forgotten that the plan was just to intimidate Dandy into building the aquarium. Shrimpo was beyond ready right there to rid the world of the plague known as “Dandicus Dancifer” and his dastardly toon handler “Will” or whatever his name was.

“Great idea though. Threatening Dandy like that is one of the three things in this world that I Don’t hate!” Shrimpo said as he let go of Finn’s hand and crossed his arms.

“Oddly specific number, Prawno.” Finn giggled a little.

“Brightney told me to count my blessings before I count my worries and one of the few blessings that this world has granted me is the ability to hate on that damned flower!”

“I’m so full of bad ideas. Trust me, you don’t even wanna hear them!” Finn flashed Shrimpo his iconic toothy grin and looked over at him.

“Wait, did you just call me ‘Prawno’!?” Shrimpo halted in his tracks and looked over at Finn who quickly stopped by his side.

“Yeah! Prawno! Doesn’t it roll off the tongue? Prawns are what the British, the Irish, and a few other places in the United Kingdom call Shrimps! Isn’t that a cool fact?”

Shrimpo nodded and smiled a little at Finn’s fact. “I guess so. Although I’m scared that Gigi’s British influence is having a negative effect on you!” Shrimpo remarked, giggling a tiny bit at his own joke.

“Oh come on!” Finn began to walk again; Shrimpo followed quickly behind him. “Even if she is British, I’m sure we’ll be fine! What did the Brits ever do to you?”

“Brightney doesn’t like them so I don’t like them either!” Shrimpo said as his brow furrowed slightly.

“Glad to hear you’re getting along well with Brightney! You two friends now?”

Shrimpo’s eyes widened as he realised the implications of what he said. His brain ran through the various things Brightney had put him through: her implying that he had a crush on Finn, implying that he was a ‘raging homosexual’, how she laughed in his face, and the fact that Brightney herself was gay. He shuddered slightly at the thought. Although part of him wished her the slightest amount of luck in her quest to date Tisha. He really wanted to eat all the food at their eventual wedding, as he figured that Brightney would pull out all the stops for her bride like the fine lady she is. Bleh.

“Well- Well I guess she is my friend! But she's got nothing on you! Certainly like her a lot more than that overbearing strawberry!”

“Well I think Mr. Seedly is quite nice…” Finn puffed.

“That's the problem! He's nice! Too nice! He's way too overprotective of us all and there's no fun to be had around him!”

“He’s just trying to be nice! No need to crawl into your shell just because of a little affection!” Finn replied lightheartedly.

“I don’t want his affection! I can handle myself, thank you very much! I’m not some limbless nugget with half a brain, I’m Shrimpo! Shrimpo is strong! And smart! And-”

“Always wins!”

“Always wins?” Finn said at the same time as Shrimpo.

“Hey! Don’t- Don’t copy me, Finnegan!” Shrimpo’s brow furrowed in anger and his face turned a little redder.

“I’m only joking! If any-fin, I’m agreeing with you! You usually do win in any sort of competitive thing we do together.”

“And I win against everyone else too! Don’t get it twisted!” he violently asserted, causing Finn to chuckle a little.

“You know, whenever two fish male kiss, they aren’t doing it because they love each other. They’re doing it to compete! They’re proving their dominance over each other and whoever parts their lips first is the loser! Isn’t that fascinating?” Finn eagerly inquired, his voice flooding with curiosity as he spoke.

“Cod DAMN IT FINN! WHY DID YOU PLANT THAT IMAGE IN MY BRAIN?!” Shrimpo screamed to himself. “IT HAS TO BE INTENTIONAL, RIGHT!? IS HE TRYING TO SAY SOMETHING?! IS HE JUST BEING STUPID!? I MEAN- WE’RE BOTH FISH AND- NO, WAIT- SHRIMPS AREN’T FISH! I’M A CRUSTACEAN! YEAH! A BIG, STRONG, TOUCH, CRUSTACEAN! THIS MEANS NOTHING. FINN IS JUST BEING STUPID FINN, HE WOULDN’T MAKE A ROOKIE MISTAKE LIKE THAT IF HE REALLY WAS TRYING TO SAY SOMETHING. FINN WAS THE ONE WHO TOLD ME THAT FUN LITTLE FACT AFTER ALL!”

“You okay, Shrimpo? You’re turning awfully red again.” Finn raised an eyebrow and his expression grew worried.

“Gah! No- Yes! I’m okay, probably just strep and- WAIT- What do you mean again !?” he frantically questioned, stopping in his tracks to help gather his thoughts. He felt like a lone fisherman surrounded by hungry megalodons trying to fight off the things swimming around in his brain at that moment.

“I mean like- nevermind- I don’t know what I'm saying.” Finn said, sounding sort of embarrassed.

“No! Answer me, Finnsie! What do you mean by-”

“Yo! Hurry up you two! We’ve been waiting here foreverrrrr!” Gigi’s voice cut through their conversation, waving a hooded hand down at them as they stood motionless a few meters away from the group's row of chairs.

“Can’t say anything in this forsaken place!” Shrimpo thought to himself as he followed Finn down to Gigi and the group. Whatever conversation they were having quickly died down as the two approached.

“Anyways, I’ll be making my leave. Come Rodger, lets go.” Glisten said sassily, hopping off his chair and shuffling away to the elevator with Rodger who scrunched and followed behind like a zombie.

“Oh? Rodgie-bear! I can’t help but notice you’re having a little trouble? Do you want some help, my sweet prince?”

“Yes… please… Save me from my misery, Glisten...” Rodger rasped. Glisten, nodded, smiled, and swept up Rodger like he were his bride, making sure to not irritate his injured foot and carrying him back home as Rodger groaned in what was either agony, sleeplessness, or both.

“Looks like somebody didn’t get enough sleep last night.” Brightney joked.

“You aren’t one to judge people based on their sleep schedule, Brights!” Tisha sternly scolded.

“Oh come on!” Brightney flipped around to face Tisha, “You know I’ve stopped staying up later than I should!”

“And it better stay that way, Brights! Or else I’m not visiting you in the library anymore!”

Anticipating an argument, Gigi sighed, sat up from her chair, and awkwardly squished herself between Finn and Shrimpo.

“You know that isn’t true! You love visiting me there!” Brightney confidently crossed her arms.

“I’m serious, Bee! Stop trying to manipulate me into not caring about you! I’d rather you get your precious sleep instead of you staying up all night overworking yourself at that damned library!”

Brightney rolled her eyes, “And I’m going to, okay? I already told you this! I’m not mad or anything but I know! No need to keep telling me Teesh!” Brightney replied happily, although there was a little hint of annoyance in her voice as she spoke.

“A-Ahem! Excuse me, guys!” An unknown feminine voice broke out amidst their conversation, “We’re kinda closing up here so… do you think you guys could make your way out? You can come back later if you want! I don't think Dandy would mind but we’re turning this place back to the way it was so you’ll have to go for a little bit. Sorry!”

Tisha perked up at the mention of a certain word beginning with C and sat up from her chair. “Cleaning?! Shelly! Can I-”

“Nope! Nope, nope, nope, Teesh! You’ve done more than enough cleaning for the time being! Maybe you can join them later!” Brightney said as she gently pushed Tisha back down onto her chair.

“But I wanna cleaaannnn! Brightney!” Tisha childishly complained.

“You just finished cleaning the library for the second time this week! You are not doing this again, you hypocrite! You will hold yourself to the same standards that you hold others too and you’re going to like it, lady!”

“But I’m not tired! And I’m dealing with that! I still need to get those back corners of the library-”

“TISHA!!” Brightney squealed, Shelly covered the sides of her head to avoid hearing damage and Tisha flinched. 

“Guys! Please! It’s nothing personal, Dandy just needs you guys out so we can clean up this place! Sorry Tisha, I don’t think they’re accepting volunteers either.”

Gigi chuckled and threw one of her arms around Shrimpo’s neck and another around Finn’s, causing Finn to stumble and Shrimpo to almost fall onto the floor. “Heh, they fight like an old married couple.”

“Yeah they do but- Get your paws off me, lady!” Shrimpo pushed himself out of Gigi’s grasp and turned to face her.

“Why so serious, Shrimpo?” She laughed and pulled Finn in a little closer to her, who didn’t seem to mind based on that usual happy expression that he wore.

Shrimpo hunched forwards, furrowed his brow, and pointed an angry finger at her. “And get your hands off him too! Get your LESBIAN HANDS OFF HIM!!” he belted out with unbridled anger.

Gigi, Shelly, and Brightney burst into laughter at Shrimpo’s statement, who asserted himself by holding a serious face as he looked Gigi in the eyes.

“Is that supposed to be an insult?” Gigi squeezed out through her laughter.

“Yes! It is! Now get off him before-” Shrimpo broke into a coughing fit. The first he’s had in a while. He covered his mouth with both hands as the other toons continued to laugh at him. “MORONS! THE WHOLE LOT OF THEM!” Shrimpo thought to himself as he coughed like a cannon.

“Besides! I’m not gay, Shrimpo! I’m bi-sexual! I like both boys and girls!” Gigi said proudly as she poked at her chest with her thumb.

“LIKE I NEED TO KNOW THAT!!” Shrimpo considered saying, but he realised something much worse. “WHAT IF SHE'S TRYING TO STEAL FINN FROM ME!? Okay well ‘Steal’ is a strong word, it's not like I like Finn like that but just in case, what if she was trying to reel my favourite fisher away and add him to one of those ‘love triangle’ things with her crush!? Gah!" The thought alone made him wanna puke up his internal organs and piss out his stomach acid. "Such a nice, cute, affectionate, and handsome boy who was one of the only people in here that I can stand to speak to for more than a second taken advantage of by this utterly evil, and heartless capsule woman! Typical Gardenview ghouls! I hate these guys!” Shrimpo monologued to himself before leaping at Gigi and grabbing Finn’s arm, trying to rip him out of her grasp.

“HANDS OFF, GIGI!!” Shrimpo focused all of his strep-ridden strength into his forearms and tried to tear the poor Finn out of her grasp. Gigi freed her hand from around Finn’s neck and moved to grab his other arm, the two toons essentially splitting Finn in two as they fought over him.

“We’ve got places to be, Finnegan!” Shrimpo yelled, digging his heels into the ground and trying to gain more leverage over Gigi, the back of his head jotting up like the tail of a frightened cat as he struggled. If only he hadn’t caught this rotten disease, otherwise he’d be destroying this lady he thought. He wasn’t a misogynist or anything, he just really didn’t want her in particular near his favourite bowl. In fact he'd prefer if anyone with the potential of taking Finn away from him were eradicated not only from Gardenview, but from existence as a whole.

“She probably hasn’t washed that rancid sweater since she got here!”

Shelly stepped back from the group and grew frightened. She was really overwhelmed and frightened by the sudden turn of events, even if it seemed like they were being acting lighthearted. She really didn’t want anything to do with it and didn't wanna get involved. She awkwardly began to step out of their little circle and Shelly thought that they’d all forgotten about her presence entirely, but apparently not.

“Shelly, wait! Do you wanna join us after these two finish fighting? We’re going to ‘hang out’ and you don’t look too busy!” Tisha asked, trying her best to ignore the situation unfolding mere meters away from them.

“O-Oh! Uhmm..” she stopped to think for a second, wondering if this was some kind of cruel trick, but Shelly trusted Tisha. She wouldn’t do a thing like that, right? “S-Sure!? Just let me tell Dandy so he can expect my absence.” and with that, Shelly went off to inform Dandy.

“What kind of business do you have with Finn where you need to be doing this?” Gigi asked, struggling to hold off Shrimpo who seemed to be putting 110% of his strep-ridden strength into getting Finn back into his arms.

“I hate this! Just- give me him back, you rube!”

“Sh-Shrimpo! Gigi! C-Cut it out! You’re gonna split me in half! There's enough of me to go around, no need to be so shellfish!” Finn playfully stuttered, although there was a hint of unease behind his voice.

“Nope, Finnick! Shrimpos gonna have to let go first!” Gigi teased and grinned.

“You’re going to kill him you moron! Let go of him!” Shrimpo screamed.

“If you pull harder then we can kill him together! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Gigi joked, causing Finn to look at her in abject horror.

“Wonderfully terrible! I’m not a loser! Shrimpo is strong! And you know what Shrimpo does!? I-” With as much energy as he could muster, he finally pulled Finn out of Gigi’s grasp, resulting in the two of them tumbling to the ground with Finn on top of him. “I NEVER LOSE!”

“Eugh… I don’t know how much more of that I could’ve handled…” Finn got up, sitting on Shrimpo’s stomach with his legs draping down the sides of his chest and rubbing the side of his head. “You guys are lucky I didn’t crack!” Finn dusted himself off and looked back at Gigi.

“You can crack!?” Shrimpo questioned.

Finn looked down at Shrimpo, “Yeah…? It’s not permanent, they heal after a while but they’re very irritating.”

“What about your skin!? This isn’t glass! You’ve got soft skin!” Shrimpo sat up slightly and grabbed Finn’s arm in confusion.

“I’m not too sure what it is but it cracks! I had this bad fall once and I cracked my knee. Sprout was reel-y upset because I kept leaking water and it made it eel’ hard for him to put a bandage on it! Why do you ask?”

“What about when I- You- You know!” Shrimpo let go of his arm and silently gnashed his teeth.

“Oh! I don’t think you pierced the membrane, but you got close!” Finn cheerily replied. “Maybe be softer if you’re gonna do that!”

It took Shrimpo a few moments for him to realise that he had attracted a crowd that surrounded himself and Finn. He looked into the crowd and saw a few faces, some of them confused, some of them laughing, and one in particular seemed to be shocked. The toon did an over exaggerated gasp and performed an obviously fake faint into Tisha’s arms who quickly caught her from hitting the ground.

“Brights! Are you okay?”

“! !! ! !!! !!” Flutter sputtered.

“Flutter! Shush! Don’t say that! Gigi can hear you!” Brightney instantly snapped out of her dazed state and stood up straight and out of Tisha’s arms.

Gigi’s eyes lit up, “Brightney..? Oh my gosh, are you one of those too!? Quick! What's your favourite-”

“We’ll discuss this later! There's a time and a place for this type of discussion and now is not it! Not with those two around…”

“Try me, lamp lady! Spit it out! And- Finn! G-Get off you’re gonna kill me for cods sake!”

“You didn’t release me when I asked you to!” Finn teased, lowering himself down and pressing his chest against Shrimpo’s on the floor, looking him in the eyes as he did. “So why should I-” Finn was cut off as a tsunami came pouring out of his head and spilled down onto the tail on Shrimpo’s head and onto the floor. “Aw- Carp! Carp!” Finn’s expression fell and he instantly sat back up, hoping that the water would just retreat back into his bowl, but to no avail. Shrimpo was still wet and upset.

“Finn! What the- FUCK! Let me out now!” Shrimpo finally squeezed himself free from Finn’s weight and stood to his feet. “Why would you-!”

“Language, Shrimpo!” Brightney scolded.

“Shut up! I’m not taking this attitude from YOU Brightney!”

“Pussy.” Gigi snorted, trying to hold in her laughter.

“Cunt!” Shrimpo angrily quipped.

“Aids.”

“Fat-!”

“Okay, okay! That's enough, everyone! Weren’t we supposed to go somewhere…?” Tisha interrupted. “And Shrimpo! You’re soaking! Do you want some help with that?”

“N-No! I wanna go to sleep! I’m tired! I’m tired of being sick! I’m tired of being wet! I'm tired of this stupid presentation!” Shrimpo flailed his arms madly.

“Well I wanted to make you un-wet... Are you sure you don’t want my help?”

Shrimpo slumped his shoulders and sighed, “Fine! Just not here! I’m going to my room! You guys go do your thing because I’m not attending!” Shrimpo angrily shrimped off and out of the room; Tisha scurried behind him and tried to stick by his side.

Shrimpo angrily stumbled into the elevator and into the toon rooms, passing by toons and ignoring anything Tisha said or asked him until they finally reached his room. Shrimpo opened his door and begrudgingly let Tisha inside. He silently sat on his bed and Tisha sat beside him, producing a sleeve of tissues from her dress pocket withdrawing a single tissue from it. She gently moved her hand up to Shrimpo's head and wiped is. Shrimpo winced as her hand ran up the base of his tail, slightly enjoying the sensation as he felt it brush against his skin. Finn had pet it before but as much as he liked him, Tisha did it much better. Her gentle yet thorough strokes across his skin just felt so good.

“Hey-! Be careful! It’s sensitive back there!” Shrimpo whimpered as Tisha moved onto the upper part of his tail. “Be gentle!”

“On it!” Tisha said happily, taking pride in the fact that Shrimpo already seemed to be feeling a lot better, although she didn’t know just how much Shrimpo was enjoying it.

“Mmmm…” A gentle tone oozed from Shrimpo’s chest as Tisha continued to dry his head. Tisha didn’t know what he was doing and neither did Shrimpo himself. In fact, he hadn’t even noticed.

“You okay, Shrimpo?” She said, pausing her work on Shrimpo’s head in fear she had hurt him.

“H-Huh!? What?” he snapped out of his daze and turned his head to look at Tisha.

“Nothing, just… just get back into position for me.”

Shrimpo obliged and turned his head to face his door. Tisha almost immediately got back to work which filled Shrimpo with an immense feeling of glee and relaxation.

After a few minutes Tisha finally finished her ritual on Shrimpo’s head and asked him a question: “Your back is a little wet too… would you mind taking your shirt off for me?”

“No chance! I do mind! I’m not taking it off!” he blushed.

“Right… do I have your consent to just put my hand up the back of your shirt then?”

“Yeah whatever…” he replied reluctantly.

Tisha nodded and placed her used tissue in her opposite pocket, reaching for a new one from her sleeve and grabbing it before gently pulling back Shrimpo’s shirt and beginning to wipe down his back. It didn’t feel as nice as whatever magic Tisha had been doing on his tail, but it still felt decently nice.

“Hey Tisha…” Shrimpo sheepishly asked.

“Hm? What is it?”

“Do you- uhmmm… do you like anyone?” Shrimpo felt himself blushing at his question. He’d previously ridiculed Gigi and Brightney for asking these things yet here he was asking Tisha about it. He would've berated himself as a hypocrite, but he found this important enough to ask nonetheless.

“Oh well I like a lot of people! I like Brightney, I like Finn, I like you, I like everyone in Gardenview!” she smiled.

“No! I meant like ! Do you like anyone!”

“Oh, Shrimpo! That's a little bit invasive! Don’t ya think?” Tisha blushed and paused her work on Shrimpo’s back.

“Is it Brightney!?”

Tisha paused for a moment. Shrimpo didn’t seem like he had any ill intentions, especially after what she’d just done for him. She knew he probably wouldn't do or say anything about it.

“Yes… that's the lady I’m in love with…” she ashamedly admitted.

“Why haven’t you said anything to her? What's stopping you?!”

“Well… there's the obvious reasons. I’m not sure if she likes me back and all that.” Tisha began to work on Shrimpo’s back again. “But she’s also very… difficult? Like… she’s very persistent about destroying herself. I really do feel like I have something for her, but she’s very hard to work with. I try my best to help her improve herself but she barely listens! I’ve tried a bunch of times to try and get her to sleep earlier and while she says that she does, I can tell that she’s still not getting enough sleep. Her beautiful eyes are baggy, her reactions are delayed, and sometimes I’ll even catch her awake in the middle of the night. It’s truly awful.”

Shrimpo nodded.

“Unrequited love is one of the worst things you can experience. Imagine being in love with someone and wanting to be with them more than anything in the world and they don't feel the same about you. It really cuts your heart in half. Although I can’t be sure you don’t already know that feeling.” Tisha giggled, “Shrimpo, is there anyone you like ?”

Shrimpo paused, wondering if he should answer her or if he even had a coherent answer. She seemed nice enough, but there was a part of him screaming to never reveal his dark and shameful secret to anybody. That he’d be made fun of for the rest of his life and be hated and looked down upon even more than usual if he’d even considered the thought. He was beyond ashamed of himself.

“No…? Yes…? I-It’s hard to explain! I’m not sure! When does it turn from wanting to be his friend to wanting to be his boyfriend?!” Shrimpo asked in his usual angry tone.

“I see… well, how do you feel about them?”

“Well… I love how nice he is… he’s the most considerate person I’ve met and he’s very persistent… I like that about him…” Shrimpo's tone began to descend into one that was less bitter and hateful and more calm and collected, although he was shaking heavily.

“Hmmm… well maybe it could just be a platonic friendship? Like if you haven’t-”

“TISHA!!” Shrimpo turned his head to face her, “I’ve- I’ve thought about kissing him! Okay?! It-It’s more than that! Nobody thinks that about their best friend! I’m afraid! I’m ashamed! I'm so ashamed!! I just-” Shrimpo sighed and turned back around to look at the floor. “I just wanna not exist sometimes… I’ve been having awful nightmares for weeks and it’s getting to me! I hate going to sleep now because what if I wake up back there!? I hate how my brain constantly betrays me! I hate how it makes me feel like I’m in love with him! And I’m scared in case it’s just fucking with me! What if I'm not really in love with him!? What if I'm just being toyed with by my own conciousness?! Do you know what that feels like, Tisha!? To be constantly fucked with by the very thing you form thoughts with!? What if I confess to him and I stop feeling like this after a few days?! What if I confess to him and he says no?! It’ll never be the same between us! It’ll be really awkward and I don’t wanna ruin our friendship!” Shrimpo belted out with all his heart. His voice grew shaky and he began to tear up between sentences. By the end of his heartfelt vent, his face was dripping with tears that he hadn’t even noticed were forming. Shrimpo realised that he’d definitely overshared to someone he barely spoke to and he hated himself for it. He wanted to run away, curl up into a ball, and never speak to anyone again. He was so embarrassed. In fact, he was about to do just that when Tisha interrupted him.

“Well hey…” Tisha withdrew her hand and gave Shrimpo a soft hug. “I’m glad that you can be open with me. You’re in no rush. You can take as much time as you’d like to sort out your feelings. I’m here if you ever wanna speak about it. I know more about how you feel than you know… I never would’ve suspected how much you’ve been hurting.”

“I’m not hurting! I’m strong! I’m Shrimpo! I’m angry! I’m not upset!”

“But you are hurting! Are you not listening to yourself? You’re stressed out, you’re crying! This is far more than anger, Shrimpo! You can be vulnerable with me. I promise I won't tell anyone. I promise upon my dead body that nobody will hear of this unless you want them to.” Tisha said, hugging him closer as tears dripped from his flooded eyes and down down onto his lap.

“Right… thank you Tisha…” Shrimpo whimpered, accepting Tisha’s embrace and reciprocating the hug. “I hope things work out between you and Brightney.”

Tisha was taken massively by surprise by the whole ordeal. She’d never expected such a rough and angry guy like Shrimpo to be hiding all this.

“Thank you… It means a lot.”

“I just hope Finn’s okay… I think Brightney is my friend but she’s pushy! Gigi too from what I’ve seen of her! She’s really rude!”

“If Brights does anything to hurt your Finn then I’ll give her a stern talking to! But I’m sure he’ll be fine! I doubt there's anyone that seriously dislikes him. If even you have nice things to say about him, then he must be the nicest boy in the world!”

Shrimpo giggled at Tisha’s comment and nodded. “Also one more thing Tisha! If you had an anglerfish, what would you name it!?” Shrimpo asked, remembering what Gigi had asked of him back during Dandy’s presentation.

“Hmmm… what about… what about…” Tisha thought for a few seconds, leaving Shrimpo in awkward silence as she stared at the ceiling.

She looked back over at Shrimpo, “What about Jane? Or Victoria? Or Gloria? Or- Oh bother! I’m so indecisive! I’m very sorry!” The two of them shared a chuckle.

“What about some boy names? I want some cool ones! Awesome ones! Awesome names for an awesome anglerfish!”

“Okay, umm… Vonnegut? Nicholas? Hunter?”

“Hunter! Hunter is awesome! I’m choosing that one!”

“Right! Do you want me to finish drying you off? You’ve created a few new spots there too.” Tisha asked. Shrimpo had stopped crying a while ago, but he was still a little wet. He seemed a lot happier that he’d gotten that off his chest and he felt a lot closer to Tisha. He thought that maybe she could be his friend too. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

“Sure.” Shrimpo replied, letting himself go of Tisha’s embrace and turning back around to his previous position; feeling a lot better than he had before.

Back with Finn, he was sitting in the kitchen, seated at a table with the others.

“Wow! You really have a lot of room in there Gigi!” Shelly complimented cheerily. She’d had some reservations about coming, but now that they were together, she realised that her worries were for naught.

“Yup.” Gigi said, reaching into her head and pulling out another chocolate bar and attempting to hand it to Shelly.

“Oh! No thank you! I’m trying to watch my weight but I appreciate the gesture!” Shelly took another bite of the chocolate bar she was already eating.

“Suit yourself! More for me!” Gigi tore open the wrapping and brashly swallowed it in one bite.

“They’re a little dry. Are these expired? How long have these been rotting in your head for?” Brightney asked, taking a look at her half eaten chocolate bar.

“Iunno. I haven't been here for too long so if they’re expired then it's the fault of whoever owned them.”

“Wait… did you steal these!?” Brightney asked.

“! ! !!! !! .. ?!”

“N-No!” Gigi protested.

“So you wouldn’t mind if i asked Cosmo about-”

“Don’t do that! There's no need for that!” Gigi frantically opposed.

“Gigi! How cod you! Not even Shrimpo would steal from Cosmo!” Finn interrupted.

“Oh, shut it Finn! Just because you wanna kiss him doesn’t mean you gotta bring him up at every opportunity!” Gigi accused.

“I- Huh!?” Finn gasped in surprise. “Where is this coming from??” Finn’s cheeks turned a little darker.

“Come on Finley! Finnitaur! Finners! Don’t act like you don’t wanna give him a big ol’ kiss on his big ol’-”

“That's enough, Gigi!” Brightney complained. “You’re clearly making him uncomfortable!”

“I’m okay, it’s just… weird? I’d just rather you not say those things about me and Shrimpo!”

“I wanted to talk about dinosaurs…” Shelly said meekly.

“Me tuna! Why can’t we do that?” Finn replied.

“Can it, Brightney! You’re a fakejoshi! This isn't even that bad, he can just avoid the question!”

“I am not a fakejoshi! I’m the biggest fujo of them all! You’re just being mean! And I thought I told you not to talk about this with him around!! I don't wanna be caught dead talking about this stuff!” Brightney yelled in embarrassment while pointing at Finn.

“Oh come on! You can’t deny how he acts towards that shrimp! Did you not see how they oh-so romantically fell on top of each other earlier?”

“I will refrain from making any comments about that.” Brightney replied, taking another bite out of her chocolate.

“Maybe you are a realjoshi after all…” Gigi giggled.

“I don’t think you should be saying this out about real people, Gigi. And you’re a newjoshi! You probably just discovered what that meant like a week ago!”

“Surely you’re not going to gatekeep being a fujoshi, Brightney.” Gigi mocked.

“I’m not gatekeeping! It’s just weird to do this about a real person when they’re clearly not okay with it! Keep that to yourself if you have to.”

“You can’t act like they don't have something for each other. Especially after what you heard about what Finn does in his sleep.” Gigi whispered.

“Yeah well you don’t see me going to Finn about it! That’s just weird!” Brightney whispered back.

“What are you guys talking about? I’m so confused! I don’t like it!” Finn complained.

“Nothing serious! Don’t worry about it Finn. Really.” Brightney responded. “I’d never say anything bad about you.”

“What's a fujoshi…?” Shelly asked.

“!! !!!! ! !” Flutter ticked.

Gigi and Brightney looked at each other briefly and nodded. “We’ll show you in a bit!” Brightney said cheerily. “Finn. Why don't you rest for a little bit? You’re probably exhausted after that presentation, right?”

“I’m fine, reel-y! I eel’ great actually! I don’t-”

“No I mean… we got some lady stuff to talk about with Shelly and I feel bad about what Gigi said to you so why don’t you go hang out with Shrimpo or something? No offense of course. It’s not personal.

Finn wasn’t resentful, but one thing he was resentful about was how people infantilized him. Sure, he knew he wasn’t the sharpest hook in the tacklebox, but he wasn’t stupid. One thing he resented more than being infantilized though was being rude. He heaved a sigh and sat up, leaving his chocolate bar on the table and scuttling off somewhere else, trying his best to hide how Brightney had upset him. She said ‘No offense’ but he still felt a little offended by how she treated him like he couldn’t handle a little bit of teasing. 

“I’ll sea you guys later!” Finn said as he left.

“Seal you later, Finn!” Shelly waved.

“Smell ya later.” Gigi snickered.

“See ya!” Brightney replied.

“!!!!” Flutter responded.

“Okay Gigi, we need to teach you some manners! You don’t say that to people! I don’t care how much you ship them, you don’t do that!”

“It’s not the fact that he’s gay that makes me wanna tease him! I just like doing that! I like teasing people about their crushes, it’s fun and it doesn’t harm them! I mean- I enjoy it when people tease me about that. It’s fun! Besides! You even implied that you thought they had the hots for each other too!”

Brightney took another bite of her chocolate, “Yeah well as I said, I keep that to myself when I can." Brightney swallowed her chocolate, "I teased Shrimpo about it once but I try my best to keep it to a minimum to not disturb him. They’ll figure that out on their own when they’re ready. Don’t try to rush them.”

Gigi slumped her shoulders, “Fine. I’m sorry. I didn’t even go that far but whatever.”

“Not everyone is going to have the same boundaries as you, Geegster! You've got a lot to learn!”

“I guess you're right. Can we tell Shelly about joshi’ism now?”

“Sure! We can tell Flutter while we’re at it."

"Okay so basically, a fujoshi is a girl who likes to read, consume, or create stories about boys in love! Usually we call it 'Yaoi' but 'boys love' sounds more formal. And not boys in love with girls! I mean boys in love with other boys!" Gigi explained.

"Hmmm...? I'm intrigued...!" Shelly said with a hint of curiosity. "Can you tell me a little more about 'fujoshis'?"

"! ! ! !" Flutter rattled

"Of course!" Brightney replied, "Just sit back, relax, and don't tell Tisha about this! In fact, don't tell anyone about this! I don't need people knowing I mess with this kinda stuff."

Chapter Text

“Cod damn it! I haven’t got a single bite!” the toon said as he retreated his line.

“Well just keep trying! Whale be here for a while so there's no rush!” the other said, his hand on the shoulder of his friend's dark maroon hoodie as he guided him through his first time using a fishing rod.

“Yeah but it's FRUSTRATING! Are you sure you didn’t give me the bad fishing rod!?” Shrimpo passed an aggressive glance towards Finn, “You did, didn’t you, Finnsie!”

“Hey, both of these rods are the exact same! Besides, even if one was worse, I would give you the better one!” Finn said, cracking a small yet noticeable smile.

“Heh, okay.” Shrimpo chuckled, blushing slightly at Finn’s comment before going back to fishing. They sat together in the middle of a foggy ocean, the world around them draped in a thick mist as they floated through a dim blue abyss in Finn’s rowboat; no land in sight.

“I’m shore the fishies are just a little sleepy this morning! Don’t give up just yet!” Finn assured as he gave his friend a small rub on his shoulder.

“I’m working on it, Finnegan! I wasn’t going to give up!” Shrimpo said in a slightly angry voice.

The two of them sat there for a few moments, staring intently at the water, waiting for any sort of signal when finally, Shrimpo got a bite, casting ripples throughout the water.

“Looks like you’ve got one! Come on Shrimpo! You got this! Put your back into-”

“I’M DEALING WITH IT!! LET ME FISH IN PEACE!” Shrimpo snapped.

“Ah! Okay! You do you then!” Finn backed up and watched as Shrimpo struggled with the rod, keeping an iron grip on it as he fought with whatever magnificent monster laid in the deep blue beneath their boat. After about a minute of battling with the beast, Shrimpo finally triumphed and pulled his catch up from the water, watching as it flew into the sky and landed perfectly in his lap; although what he caught wasn’t a fish. It wasn’t any sort of animal actually. It took him a few minutes to gather what it was, but it's plush fur, blue skin, and pointy tail told him all that he needed to know to figure it out.

“Mr. Jinks!? What were you doing down there?!” Shrimpo said in stunned disbelief, turning the plush in his hands and tearing the hook out. “He’s remarkably dry too! Finn!” he turned around and showed Finn his catch.

“Oh my goodness! Mr. Jinks!” Finn ripped the plush from Shrimpo’s hands and took a good look at his plush companion. “Where’ve you been? Why are you all the way out here? Oh, you poor thing! You must’ve been terrified waiting for us to come back!”

Shrimpo watches and thoughtfully smiles. “Can I see him? I’ve missed him too!”

“Oh! Sure! Get in here, you little cuddlefish!” Finn said happily as he gave Shrimpo a big tight hug, rocking their small little boat slightly and squishing the shark between the chests of the toons as they embraced each other in celebration.

“H-Hey, Finn!” Shrimpo stuttered after a few moments of silence.

“Hm? What is it?” Finn softened his grip around Shrimpo and gave him a caring look.

“I-I- Ummm…” Shrimpo paused, putting his hand behind his head and looking away from Finn, too ashamed to look at him. He was unsure if he wanted to go through with what he was planning, too unsure about how he felt and how Finn may feel. Maybe he should just drown himself.

“Shrimpo?” Finn softened his grip further and his face grew worried.

“N-Nothing! Forget about it.” Shrimpo sighed and gently pushed his friend off.

“No, tell me! You can’t just tease me with a question and not ask it! I’m just frying to know!”

“...Promise you won’t get mad at me?” Shrimpo asked. He was starting to learn just how tolerant Finn was of the weird and even bad things he’d do sometimes, but still, he couldn’t be certain.

“Come on!” he elbowed Shrimpo, “When have I ever gotten mad at you?”

“Fine! Okay just- just don’t blame me when it makes you mad!” Shrimpo puffed. “Well… we’ve been friends for a long time and… you know… I really like you, you know. You know… yeah…” Shrimpo clasped his hands together and awkwardly fidgeted with his fingers.

“Mhm! I like you too!”

“Yeah well… I really like you. I might even- I- I kinda…” Shrimpo found himself suddenly regretting his decision to say anything at all, but it was a little late at this point. He could hear little shrimp begin to beat faster than he could comprehend as he took a big gulp and reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a cheap looking plastic rose. He shoved it in Finn’s face and looked up at him, his face even redder than the rose. “FINN! I ASK YOU, WILL YOU BE MY-!?” Shrimpo suddenly felt a lump form in his neck, words threatening to spill out but never passing the event horizon of his throat; catching himself particularly on the word ‘Boy’ which he tried so desperately to say, but was just barely unable to speak. He wanted with all his heart to say how much liked Finn, but he couldn’t form the words to say it with. His vocal cords kept protesting, preventing him from speaking the way his heart felt.

“I WANT TO BE YOUR BEST FRIEND!!” Shrimpo relented, “I WANT TO BE YOUR BEST FRIEND FOREVER AND EVER!” he shut his eyes, not sure what to anticipate from his friend. “PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME!”

“Aww! Shrimpo! That’s really sweet!” Finn reached an arm over and graciously yet gently plucked the flower from his hands. “But how could I ever love such a worthless, angry, bitter, resentful, spiteful, waste of space like you?” Finn said as he threw the rose into the water, as if it were a mere piece of garbage.

Shrimpo’s eyes shot open and he looked up at him. He’d expected a multitude of reactions, but he certainly hadn’t expected this. “Finn! Wha-What the hell?? That’s really mean!” Shrimpo proclaimed, his eyes wide with shock and his mind taken aback at Finn’s sudden shift. “And why are you littering!? I thought you-!”

“Don’t worry Mr. Jinks! I won’t let that selfish bastard Shrimpo lose you again!” he said in an usually cheery tone whilst hugging his shark tightly. “After all, he IS the one who took you away from me.”

“Finn… I-!” Shrimpo wanted to object, but didn’t have the strength to fight back against him. His heart practically exploded into a million pieces and he was trying to figure if maybe he’d misspoken? Was he hearing him right?.

He felt his words sting his heart like a bullet. He was ashamed. He suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to jump off right there, careen into the lake below and free himself from the guilt he felt at that moment, because Finn would never love him, he never could truly like him. However, even in his confusion, a piece of Shrimpo’s mind hung on, slowly piecing together the inconsistencies at play here. He took a long hard look at “Finn”, cast his feelings aside for a moment, and gathered his surroundings. First of all, he had no idea where he was, and second of all, the environment was suddenly shifting and changing. The sky grew black, the fog appeared to be increasing in thickness, and the water below slowly began to turn darker, reflecting the boat and its inhabitants like a mirror. He looked up, looking for the moon, stars, anything familiar, but nothing was up there. It was like he’d just been sucked into a black hole.

“Really you’re just-”

“I’m dreaming, aren't I!? You aren’t-! Finn wouldn’t say that!” Shrimpo interrupted, “Fuck you!” he yelled and looked over at the toon. “Where am I?! Where- Where the hell- Where is- Boat!? You never got your damned boating license! You told me that! He told me that! Who do you think you’re fooling!” he prosecuted, glancing through the fog and trying to see where in God's Green Gardenview he was.

“Oh but I’m the real deal, Shrimpo! You’re a completely unlovable wreck-!” the thing was caught off guard as Shrimpo immediately delivered a harsh, wet smack across its face.

“Shut up! I have friends! I have many! I have three! Three friends to my name! And two that want to be my friend! How many do you have, buddy!? None! Zilch! I bet nobody even looks at your ugly face at the stupid ugly loser BITCH place that you come from!”

“We aren’t your friends because we like you! We’re only your friends because we’re afraid of you!” the thing dropped Mr. Jinks at its feet, seemingly forgetting about him and stepping over him to look down at Shrimpo from above. “And besides, you’re really gonna insult a cute face like mine?” it said mockingly.

That's all it took to plunge Shrimpo’s mind back into a world of uncertainty. No matter how tough he acted or how loudly he shouted, he could only shelter his true feelings in a poor manner. Every word pierced through him like a spear.

“Sh-Sh-Shut up! Finn likes me! Tisha likes me, Brightney likes me! The others- I-I don’t know! And I don’t particularly give a carp! They can all jump off a roof!” Shrimpo crossed his arms.

“You’re pathetic, Shrimpo. If you really liked him, then you would tell him how you feel.” the thing looked over at Shrimpo and bent downwards before chuckling at him in a sickening tone, “But then again, I feel that you don’t possess the ability to exercise any sort of free will or free thinking. When was the last time you thought for yourself without another person telling you what to do or how to feel? You’re nothing but an angry statue fit for nobody. You simply-” the thing was interrupted yet again as Shrimpo angrily mumbled, stumbled to his feet, and grabbed it from under its armpits like he was lifting a cat.

“YOU CAN TAKE YOUR FEEL WILL,” and with all of his might, he threw the creature off the side of the boat, banishing it to the murky depths below. “AND YOU CAN SHOVE IT! I don’t wanna talk about this right now and you are trying way too hard!” he shouted in a celebration of victory before sighing heavily and falling back down onto the boat seat, placing his head in his hands and staring back off into the fog in front of him. It hurt Shrimpo a little to hurt Finn, but he was 100% sure that whatever that thing was, it wasn’t Finn.

“Stupid nightmare. Stupid Finn. Stupid boat. Stupid fog. Stupid Shrimpo. Stupid everything!” he grudgingly grumbled. Shrimpo pinched himself in a futile attempt to wake himself up from whatever this was, but was met with no results. 

“And if you come back I’ll skin you alive!” he yelled down at the water. “Just gonna have to wait it out… Just gotta wait it out! at least I have you.” Shrimpo said with a hint of optimism as he looked over at Mr. Jinks who now sat across the boat from him. “Man, I hope Finn is gonna be happy when I find you. Maybe then I can tell him how much I… Hm. What do you think, Jinks?” he glanced up at the sky.

“...”

“Thanks bud.” Shrimpo smiled. “What even is a Jink? And why did he name you after a group of them?” he looked back down at Jinks.

“...”

“I don’t know what it is, but I think it suits you. You seem like a Jinks, you know?”

“...”

“A Jink is probably far too complex for me to understand anyway. Might be a type of fish or like… a type of fishing rod. I wish I could open his mind up and look into his brain. He’s interesting. In a good way. He seems like the kind of guy you could talk about for hours.”

“...”

“Maybe there's a Ms. Jinks out there for you somewhere. I hope she’ll love you. In an unconditional sense, y’know? No strings attached. Just someone who’d love you for you.”

“...”

“Or maybe even another Mr. Jinks. I don’t mind either way and I don’t really think Finn would either. You can be whoever you want to be, Jinks.” he looked back out towards the ocean, “Or maybe not actually. Homos are still pretty scary.” he sighed, “I just hope that you feel better about it compared to how I feel.” he said somewhat jokingly, but there was certainly a hint of truth behind it. When he first started to like Finn beyond him just being another toon he tolerated, he felt earth shatteringly ashamed. But now, he was starting to warm up to whatever he felt towards Finn, even if it wasn’t entirely platonic. He still felt extremely ashamed of himself, but it was a little better than what he’d felt before. He felt like he could ridicule himself less for a little bit, but who knew how long that could actually last.

“...”

“Stay away for as long as you can. I still need to sort myself out.” Shrimpo chuckled. “I’ve never felt this way towards another person. Especially a boy. Sprout and Glisten make it seem so easy and I’m over here and I just-” Shrimpo paused as he felt a scratching pain nagging at the back of his head. “Agh… I don’t really wanna talk about this right now… Maybe I can speak to you when I find you in Gardenview?”

“...”

“I’ll take that as a yes!” he said proudly as he put his hands to his hips. He kicked back his feet, put his hands behind his head, and waited. He didn’t know how long he had to wait, but he would wait however long he needed to if it meant seeing Finn. He tried to not let it bother him too much.

“Maybe if I saw him I’d feel a little better… Maybe Tisha too…” Shrimpo sighed, leaning over the side of the boat and looking down at the nightly nectar below, trying not to think about anything at all, just trying to get his mind off this. “Maybe Brightney and some of those other people too…”

Eventually Shrimpo did wake up. His eyes opened slowly like a rusty gate opening for the first time in who knows how long as he did his best to get a grasp of his surroundings. He was in bed. He had no idea whose bed it was or how he got there, but based on his surroundings —the red wallpaper, the punching bags, and a few other landmark features of someone with a few issues— he assumed that he was in his own room. Off in the corner he saw two toons doing… something. They were sitting at his writing desk that he hadn’t used in what seemed like forever, indulging in some task that he couldn’t make out at the moment.

Shrimpo incoherently grumbled and crawled his way out of his bed, sluggishly voyaging over to his desk. While he grabbed at his carpet and dragged his body, he felt as though his right arm weren’t there. It was a weird feeling. He could still see his arm there in front of him, but it felt numb. Was he still sleeping? Did he cut his nerve endings in his sleep?

Nonetheless, he brushed it off and continued his pace and eventually got the attention of the other toons.

“Shrimpo! Fintastic! You’re awake!” a familiar voice said cheerily, sounding like they were on the verge of imploding from excitement

“Shrimpo! Oh thank heavens, I was getting worried!” a feminine voice said from an area that seemed slightly further away.

Shrimpo instantly recognized the first voice, but it took him a second to recognize the second. He hadn’t been around her for too long and he wasn’t as attached to her as Finn, but after looking up and seeing the two of them standing above him, he recognized the other voice as Tisha.

“Need some kelp there, Shrimps?” Finn didn’t wait for a response and immediately grabbed Shrimpo from underneath his arms and brought him to his feet and with Tisha’s help, slowly lowered him down onto his original chair situated between their own chairs which had been brought in from the Kitchen.

Shrimpo instantly sank into his cushioned seat and almost fell forwards right back onto the floor when Finn quickly caught him and sat him back in his chair. “Ahrrrmmm… arm weird….” Shrimpo groaned and raised his right arm. Finn and Tisha immediately got to analyzing.

“Your arm? What's wrong with your arm?” Tisha asked.

“Can't fhheeeel it! H-Help!” Shrimpo took a long pause and turned his head, “Hello Finnegan…” Shrimpo said weakly and smiled, to which Finn smiled back.

“Let’s see… Can you feel this?” Tisha grabbed Shrimpo’s arm and gave it a gentle pinch.

“Nhhoo…” Shrimpo yawned.

“Let’s sea about this!” Finn announced as he grinned with devilish intent. He snatched Shrimpo’s arm from Tisha’s grip, pulled it in closer, and with a huff, planted his teeth in the middle of his arm.

“GAH- Finn!” Shrimpo instantly jumped awake and tried to shake Finn’s mouth off of him, “Yes! Yes, I can feel that-! Finn-! FINN!” Shrimpo grunted and desperately began to shake his arm in an attempt to throw off the beautiful beast digging into his skin. Finn eventually released his hold on Shrimpo and gently giggled.

“Come on! I didn’t even do it that hard!” Finn took his eyes off Shrimpo’s face and grabbed his arm, “Look! There's barely even a mark! You bit me way harder!”

“YEAH WELL- WELL I DON’T HAVE A SHIRT TO COVER IT UP WITH! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY WHEN SOMEONE NOTICES THIS!?”

“Ummmm… wear your hoodie! I love the way it looks on you and-”

“The sleeves are ripped on it you idiot! That isn’t gonna cover anything! I’m doomed! Finn! Tisha! I’m dead! I can never be seen again in public because of this crap! I might as well just kill myself!”

“Shrimpo…?” Tisha interrupted, “When did you start caring about what others thought about you?” she asked, her voice lacking any sort of ill intent behind it, just pure curiosity.

“I-” Shrimpo sighed and turned to Tisha, “You’re right. I don’t care! In fact, I wish I gave a damn about what those guys thought about me!”

“Can you feel your arm yet?” Tisha brought her feather duster up to Shrimpo’s arm and brushed it slightly.

Shrimpo reeled in response to the unusual sensation. “Gah-! I feel it a lot more now! Don’t do that, that tickles! And not in a funny way! I don’t like it! I hate it! Stop it!”

Tisha smiled and returned her utensil to her pocket. “Must’ve fallen asleep on your arm. The feeling should come back soon!”

Shrimpo growled quietly as Finn wrapped his arm around his sider. “Look! Thanks to what I did, we’ve found the problem!” Finn smiled innocently and looked into Shrimpo’s eyes, “Can you find the strength in that little heart of yours to forgive little ol’ me?” Finn moved his other hand up and poked Shrimpo in the upper section of his chest.

“H-Hey!” he jumped a little at Finn’s touch, “Don’t touch me there! That tickles too!”

“Oh, sorry!” Finn chuckled and retreated his hand, “Actually, your heart should be up here!” Finn lifted his hand once more and affectionately poked Shrimpo on his forehead. “Right there!”

“I- Wh- What? What are you talking about?! You’re scaring me!”

“A Shrimp's heart is actually located in its head! I’m not too shore what your body is like, but maybe it eel’y is up there!” he gave it another poke.

Shrimpo grunted and averted his gaze, “Whatever! I already knew about that anyway! I just didn’t know what the hell you were talking about!”

“Do you mind if I have a listen?”

“Wh- How?! How are you gonna do that!?” Shrimpo asked in confusion. 

In the background, Tisha gently made her way out of Shrimpo’s room, anticipating something bad. She also didn’t want to potentially bother either of them and interrupt Shrimpo’s time with the boy that he said he cared so much about. She wasn’t really sure what to say to make him feel better, but they seemed to be having enough fun together. She hoped that her new friend would figure out his feelings.

“Oh, you know! I was gonna put my head up to your chest and-”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” He took a few steps back. “You’re spooky! Look, y-you BIT me! YOU BIT ME, FINNEGAN!”

“You bit me too!” Finn began to undo his life vest so he could show off the signature that Shrimpo signed with his teeth, but Shrimpo wasn’t looking. He was looking in the opposite direction, staring at a wall with crossed arms. “Shrimpo? What the carp are you doing there?”

“Not looking! You can’t make me look at you shirtless! I’m not looking at your big blue chest!”

Finn blushed ever so slightly and he smiled with a hint of uneasiness, “I- I’m not even- What?? My shirt is on! I was just gonna lift it a little! Are you scared of shirtless boys or somefin?” Finn dropped his life vest to the floor, leaving him standing there in his white undershirt.

“No!” Shrimpo blushed and turned back around, “I’m just scared of you! Because you bit me and all that other stuff!”

“Oh come on, Shrimper! I didn’t even bite you that hard! Barely even the strength of a tiny piranha!” he complained and sat back down on his chair.

“HARD?!” Shrimpo stood up and gazed down at Finn with an angry look on his face, “I’LL SHOW YOU HARD! PREPARE FOR A-!” Shrimpo prepared to make a move on Finn, but as he crouched down to pounce on Finn, he ended up losing his balance and falling backwards onto the floor.

“Shrimpo!” Finn jumped off his chair and looked at the downed shrimp, “Are you okay?”

“No! I’m- Grah! Stupid tail! Stupid tail, why do you have to be so fat and dumb!” Shrimpo climbed back to his feet and rubbed the back of his head.

“Let me have a look at it!” Finn stepped up and leaned his head over Shrimpo’s shoulder. 

Shrimpo smirked with devilish intent. Finn’s neck was wide open right in front of him and was vulnerable to whatever he planned on doing. Shrimpo had orchestrated this whole thing: the falling, the non-existent tail injury, all of it to get Finn right where he wanted. He wanted to let out an evil little laugh, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that. In fact, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything. He wanted to begin chomping at Finn’s glistening blue neck and absolutely smother him in bites like there was no tomorrow, but something was preventing him from laying a finger on the fisherman. 

“YOU GOT THIS SHRIMPO! JUST A SIMPLE BITE. IT DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING!” he chanted to himself. “BUT WHAT IF I BITE TOO HARD AND HIS SKIN FALLS OFF! ALL ONTO THE FLOOR! AND THEN HE MELTS!! THEN NOBODY GETS TO ENJOY FINN’S- AGH! HE DOESN’T DESERVE TO GET BITTEN, YOU IDIOT! GO BITE YOURSELF!” Shrimpo felt like throwing himself out a window. He felt like he was overcomplicating this, but he couldn’t help himself. So many things could go wrong. Finn could bleed out, someone might walk in, anything!

After a few panicked moments, he started to feel himself calm down. He shut his eyes and held his breath as he waited for Finn to finish whatever he was doing back there in fear of his shameful temptation taking over. It was all his fault. It felt like it was. He shouldn’t think about hurting Finn, even if it's just a playful little bite. He shouldn’t even entertain that thought. Just think about something else. He kept telling himself, but suddenly, he felt his body begin to move on its own. 

“GET IT TOGETHER, SHRIMPO!!” he thought to himself. He already hated his body, but he was beginning to hate his brain even more. He could hear himself screaming to just stand still, even for a second. “Let Finn do his job and BE DONE WITH IT!!”

“It doesn’t look too bruised! In fact, your tail looks as good as it always does!” he gave his tail a little flick, “Maybe a shower or some-fin wouldn’t hurt but-!” Finn felt a sudden sharp set of stones press against the base of his neck which sank slowly into the soft tissue that made up his neck.

“A-Ah! Shrimpo! Water you-!?” Finn gasped and pulled away from Shrimpo. He took a few steps back, groaning in pain whilst clutching the back of his neck before looking over at Shrimpo with a concerned expression. “Shrimpo? What- What the carp?! What was that pour, Shrimps?”

Shrimpo stood there motionless. His arms wrapped around a phantom Finn as if he were still holding him in his arms. Slowly Shrimpo’s arms fell back to his side as he vacantly glared over at Finn, who was slowly backing away from him, his expression growing more concerned with every moment he was left without a response.

“Is there anybody in there, buddy?” he asked wearily. Shrimpo continued to just stare. It wasn’t a particularly spooky, sad, or scared stare, just a stare. It was like he was staring at a brick wall, lost in the haze of a countless number of thoughts swimming through his head, as if at any moment they might come pouring out of that tail of his and spill all over the floor and drown everyone in the room.

“Well that’s not very nice!” Finn crossed his arms, and gave him an unamused glare. “Least you cod’ve done is-” Finn paused and noticed something strange. On his hand lay a small splatter of bright blue that was slowly beginning to stain the palm of his already bright blue body. Finn hadn’t seen it too often, but he’d seen it enough to know what it was. The liquid looked like water, but its colour was much brighter. The consistency was similar to that of water, but noticeably thicker and a little more viscous. It reminded him of the colour of his favourite pen.

“Aw carp, I’m bleeding! Hey! Do you have anything that I can use to-”

“I’M SORRY!” Shrimpo suddenly shouted, “I thought it would be cool to bite you! I didn’t- I didn’t know! I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“Shrimpo! Do you-” Finn cut himself off as Shrimpo’s —now panicked— face suddenly appeared right in front of his own.

“Finn! Where did I-?!”

“Woah! Calm your vessel, man! This isn’t too serious! I’m not gonna bleed out or anything but I do need something to stop this with.” Finn said in an unusually undisturbed tone. He didn’t seem to be particularly upset with Shrimpo. He placed his hand back on his neck to hopefully mute the bleeding.

“Let me have a look at it!” Shrimpo demanded.

“I don’t know… are you gonna CHOMP AT ME again?” Finn said half-jokingly.

“No! No, I promise! Just let me see! I wanna see how bad it is!”

“Hmmm… are you sure?” Finn raised an eyebrow.

“I’M TRYING TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT! Let me see your neck! I promise I won't bite you again!”

“Okay, brine!” Finn relented, moved his hand, and pulled the collar of his shirt down to give Shrimpo a clearer look at his neck.

Part of the shirt was soaked with what appeared to be Finn’s “blood” or whatever his body used as a substitute. Aside from that, there was a very visible silhouette of the stamp that Shrimpo sealed with his teeth. You could see the unique outline of every individual tooth on Finn’s neck slowly curving down to his shoulder, but a particular mark stood out. Two of Shrimpo’s canines. Those two had sunken a little too deep into Finn’s skin and had accidently sprung a leak.

“Uhh! Hang tight!” Shrimpo exclaimed. He rushed over to his bin and shoved a hand into it before beginning to shuffle through it. A few nights ago, Shrimpo remembered hurting his hand pretty badly after an incident involving his —now shattered— mirror where he received help from a certain Mr. Seedly who patched it up with a bandage and a few not so nice comments that ended up coming true. When he pulled his hand out, it returned now holding that same bandage, a little worse for wear with a few new stains. “Does this work?!”

Finn stared awkwardly at the glorified piece of tissue paper before giggling, lowering his shirt, and placing a hand back on his wound. “I don’t think that's gonna work!” he tilted his head a few degrees to the left, “I’ll take it though if you don’t mind!”

“I- Huh?!” Shrimpo gasped, “Why do you want old dirty bandages!”

“We could reuse them and compost them down into something useful! They’re no good just sitting there in your bin!” he replied without missing a beat.

“What are you?! Are you one of those… those people?!” Shrimpo scoffed, “People like Brightney who yell at me for throwing my drinks and candy wrappers on the floor!?”

“An environmentalist?”

“Sure, whatever! One of those things! Are you gonna try and yell at me for doing that stuff in the privacy of MY room?!”

“Well I won’t yell at you but I will scald you for it!” He paused for a moment to laugh, which was not reciprocated by Shrimpo. “Of course I care about the environment, silly! I’m gonna be upset if when I finally get to sea the sea it's full of plastic and stuff! I would hate that! So I don’t reel-y think you should-”

“FINN! You’re BLEEDING OUT, you’re gonna DIE and I’M GONNA BE AT FAULT and EVERYONE'S GONNA KNOW I BIT YOU AND KILLED YOU! Go get help from Sprout or I’ll do it again and kill you quicker!”

“I’m not gonna die! Besides, nobody would even be able to see it with my life vest on!”

“JUST GO AND SEA SPROUT ALREADY, FINNEGAN! HE’LL FIX YOU UP!I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT PEOPLE SEEING IT, I'M WORRIED ABOUT YOU DYING!!”

“Okay, okay! Let me just…” Finn picked up his vest with his free hand, “Okay, I’ll sea Mr. Sprout! Please don’t bite me like that again!”

“I won’t.” he sighed heavily.

“Do you know where he is?”

“NO!” he responded. “What, do you think I’m monitoring him or something?!”

“Not eel’y! I just sorta assumed that you’d know where he is if you suggested him.”

“WE CAN FIND HIM! Come on,” he grabbed Finn’s free arm, “Lean your arm around my neck and we'll find him!”

Finn giggled and shook his arm free, “I’m not that hurt! I can walk just fine! Besides, I cod probably just find him my-shell-f!” he said confidently.

“Yeah! Well-!” Shrimpo’s face turned a little redder and he scratched the back of his head, “Wh-Whatever! Just check his room. He’s probably in there kissing Cosmo or doing some other gay stuff with him.”

“Why’re you thinking about Sprout doin’ that sorta stuff?” Finn scratched the back of his own head.

“Don’t even act like I’m wrong!” he deflected. “Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?”

“I’ll be grand!” Finn smiled, “Thanks for offering the help but also no thanks for biting me without a warning like that.” he said playfully before leaving his room with a happy wave.

“...” Shrimpo stared as Finn escaped through his door and vanished.

“DAMN IT!” he suddenly fell to his knees and lurched backwards. “WHY DID I-!” he shielded his face with his hands and arched his body in the opposite direction, towards the floor, “STUPID! YOU’RE AN IDIOT, SHRIMPO!” he slammed both of his fists on his carpeted floor and pounded his head against it, “WHY-ARE-YOU-SO-STUPID! FUCK!! HE DOES EVERYTHING FOR YOU AND YOU MAKE HIM BLEED?! YOU IDIOT!”

The carpet wasn’t enough, he felt like he deserved worse for what he’d done. Slowly, he crawled his body over to his wooden bedside table and grabbed the corners before banging his head against its front a number of times. “I’LL-KILL-YOU! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

At some point during the incessant abuse of his forehead, he ended up pulling the table, causing it to crash down on top of his legs and sending a wave of things off its top, including an array of air horns and half eaten packets of sweets.

“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!! I WANT YOU DEAD!” he repeated. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was yelling at, but it felt nice to yell at anything. He leveraged the table upwards and kicked it off himself back onto its feet. It wasn’t particularly heavy, but it was still a nuisance he didn’t want to deal with. He stood up and screamed, “YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN ME!?” before grabbing it and hurling it at his wall. The table gracefully collided with the wall but thankfully, caused minimal damage to it or the wall.

“I’M THE DESTROYER!” he delivered a kick to the side of the downed desk, “I AM IN CONTROL!” he stomped on the front of it, “I AM SHRIMPO!” He picked the table back up, and this time, instead of throwing it, he slammed it into his wall with as much force as he could as if he were trying to break down a door with it, which manifested a small hole about the size of his palm in the wall right next to his bed as the corner of the desk stabbed into the wall.

“Crap!” Shrimpo yelped. He gently placed it back down on the floor where it’d originally been and stared at the hole he’d just created. Dandy was going to be pissed. He wasn’t too sure what kind of punishment —if any— he’d receive, but he soon realised another thing. As he peered through it, he noticed another person's room. The interior had brown walls and was barely decorated, almost entirely empty aside from the basic set of things that everyone was given. He began to brainstorm ways of how he could hide this little accident when a large eye suddenly appeared in front of the hole.

“ Do you mind?! ” a masculine voice spoke, seemingly very agitated. “What do you think you’re doing?!”

Shrimpo fell backwards and caught himself on the floor. “Rodger?! What- You’re my neighbour?!”

“Who else would it be, smartie?”

Shrimpo scrambled to his feet. “Well I never bothered to check because I DON’T CARE!”

“Well I care. It’s very hard not to.” he mocked, standing to his feet and putting his back against the wall. “I thought you were fighting someone so I buried myself under my blanket and tried to read in the darkness when I suddenly simultaneously hear and feel a crash against my wall and see your face peering through it. Imagine, if you will, how I felt upon this revelation.”

“Screw your revelation! Now I have to live with this hole too!” he crouched down and peered through the hole. “How is Dandy gonna react when he sees this?!”

“Iunno.” Rodger shrugged, “I won’t tell him if you don’t.”

“Wha- Are you tryna blackmail me or something?!”

“No.” he said without a grain of emotion behind his voice.

“You better not be!” He replied, his voice filled with a little worry for what Rodger might say or do. “Can we both just agree to ignore each other!” he stood back up and crossed his arms.

“Iunno about that. I'm one-hundred percent gonna be passing things through here and giving them to you. Here, I’ll even give you one right now.” Rodger then passed something through the hole oddly quickly, as if he’d been waiting to.

“Wh-! Huh!? Don’t shove stuff through my wall! Get out! Get your stinking magnifying glass hands out of my room before I start throwing more stuff at the wall!” He tried to shove Rodger’s hand back through when he noticed what he was holding. He was trying to give him a Playstation 3 controller.

“Come on. Let's play Portal.” he waved the controller around like he was jingling a set of keys in front of a toddler.

“I’m not in the mood for games right now!” Shrimpo grunted and stomped the floor.

“Don’t be like that. I’ll even let you play as the blue robot. You don't even gotta come in here, you can just look through the hole. The controller is wireless after all. Just give it back after we’re done.”

“NO! I JUST SAID I’M NOT PLAYING YOUR STUPID GAMES!”

“Are you a Nintendo fanboy or something?”

“WHAT?”

“Here, how about some Poe instead.” Rodger’s hand quickly vanished and just as quick as it’d gone, it reappeared with a small paperback in place of the controller.

“NO!” he swatted the book out of his hands and onto his floor. “I DON’T CARE! GOODBYE!” Shrimpo gave his wall a middle finger and began to trudge out of his room when Rodger spoke again.

“Fine… Maybe horror isn’t your forte. How about some Melville?”

Shrimpo snapped back around and looked at the hole. Rodger’s hand was poking out now clutching a copy of a familiar book. Shrimpo recognized that author, that cover, the exact length and thickness of the pages. How could he forget it? It was the catalyst of what started this whole thing between him and Finn. If he had one thing to blame his misfortunes and picky feelings on, it was that damned book. He didn’t have the best memory, but he could recall it. He could recall every moment of the incident that happened only a few days ago, but what felt like aeons ago. Oh, how Finn’s water stained the cheap and thin cover that showed a painting of a white whale, the way it puddled and continued to dampen the thick volume while it laid on the table, and how Finn’s tears pathetically welled up in his eyes, lacerating Shrimpo’s heart into a million pieces and forever etching themselves into his brain like a wood carving, painting the scene of an accident he wouldn’t forget anytime soon.

Shrimpo looked at the book for another second. It definitely wasn’t the same copy as Finn’s, but it was the same edition. Wanting to get his mind off this, he turned away. He could hear Rodger yapping off about some other trinkets he was trying to give him, but it was all nothing but noise to him. He didn’t care to listen anymore. All he could think about now was Finn and how much he didn’t deserve him. He never even had to fight for his forgiveness, Finn just gave him it without a second thought. He never even gave him a proper apology for ruining his book, but he could feel it in his heart that Finn didn’t mind. Usually, he would call someone like Finn a pushover, but something about him was different. Not that he wasn’t a pushover —he absolutely was— but he just didn’t have it in him to call him one, either to his face or to himself.

People say that they’ll forgive but never forget, but Finn seems to have done the opposite. The world as a whole didn’t deserve Finn, let alone him. If you took every milligram of kindness and good will in the world, every good deed and charitable action that's came from the earth and whatever other worlds surrounding it and multiplied it by the largest number you could think of, it wouldn’t equal even one billionth of the percentage of worthiness that you’d need to even handle the thought of his existence. He so effortlessly existed . It was hard to believe someone as kind hearted and selfless as him could even be conceived in this world that Shrimpo hated so much, let alone actually live in it. Even the way he walked, the funny way in which he wandered the world, a way that he could never fully describe within the restrictions of his knowledge of language, blessing the floor with the places he stepped in, even something as simple as that brought meaning to Shrimpo’s meaningless existence. What other reason did he have to keep himself around? He didn’t care about making kids laugh or the show; he could care less about any of that. 

It was a reason to live, and it was a reason to die. He knew he would only end up dragging him down, and the guilt from it would end up killing him anyway. “How could he ever hope to see the ocean at this rate? DOESN’T HE REMEMBER THAT WE CAN’T LEAVE THIS PLACE?! NONE OF US HAVE EVEN SEEN THESE ‘KIDS’ WERE SUPPOSEDLY ENTERTAINING OUTSIDE OF STUPID LETTERS! AND I’VE NEVER EVEN GOTTEN EVEN ONE OF THOSE! THIS PLACE-!”

The elevator door closed with a deafening thud. It was never usually that loud. He hadn’t even noticed when he entered it. He never felt his body slowly drag itself into the elevator. He never felt it press a button to send him an unknown place that he was too caught up in his thoughts to interpret. When his body finally caught up to his brain, he finally noticed the water welling up behind his eyes. All at once, mountains of fluid fell from his eyes and hit the ground with a palpable splash. He couldn’t tell what they meant. He could barely comprehend anything these days. It felt like he was just discovering his emotions for the first time, like everything that happened before was just a warmup for this. Had he even been truly ‘living’ up until now? No other emotion up to this point, even his anger, could be compared to what he was starting to feel over the past few days.

Whether these tears were happy, sad, or something else, it felt good to shed them. So Shrimpo cried. He cried for what felt like hours, days, maybe even weeks, collapsing onto the floor and covering his face out of guilt, or maybe it was shame, as if he were hiding from something, but he wasn’t sure what that ‘something’ was. 

Cry. Cry more. Keep crying until you starve your worthless body of the ability to feel anything other than anger.

Chapter Text

The elevator doors cascaded open in the usual cheap and loud way they usually would. Apparently Shrimpo’s subconscious decided that he needed a wash, because he found himself at the washrooms. He didn’t like it down here. It kinda freaked him out. The obnoxious buzzing of the lights that sounded like they were endlessly being tortured bothered him to a degree he doubted anyone could understand. The architects probably picked the cheapest lights they could find and hadn’t changed them in all the years that passed since they installed them. Adding onto that, the bathing areas were exceptionally small. The first area was the small Y-shaped hallway which connected everything. The door on the left was for the ladies, and the opposite one was for the gentlemen, as they were so affectionately labelled.

Shrimpo wiped his eyes clean of any evidence and took the right path, because Shrimpo is always right. He’d almost forgotten about the Dandy silhouette on the boys washroom door. He had no idea who was on the female one since he never bothered to look, but seeing Dandy’s smug outline on the door filled him with rage. “Why did they choose him of all people to represent this godforsaken brand? So full of himself.” he rambled to himself as he ignored it and pushed past the door and into the second area.

It was empty —thank god— which pleased Shrimpo. This area was a standard locker room. There were countless lockers lined up against around the left side of the room. Along the right side were a number of cheap washing machines that would probably combust if you put too many clothes in them and in the middle was three moderately sized bathing areas, each of them split up into equally sized cubes with a solid panel to close them off.

Shrimpo stepped in front of the middle cube. He took a look inside and was greeted by the usual thing he’d come to expect from his years of being in Gardenview. Along the left of the room lay a plain bath and shower hybrid embedded into the side of the box. He was always a little peeved at the absence of a shower curtain, but the lock on the door guaranteed that nobody would be interrupting him. Along the other side of the room was a sink with a mirror mounted above it, and a toilet. The inside was extremely cramped. You could barely squeeze yourself past the sink to access the toilet. The bath was the most spacious thing there. The whole room more closely resembled a cupboard more than a bathroom.

But Shrimpo was used to it. Everyone was used to it. This was just the way they lived down here. He took a step inside and closed the door behind him. Maybe a nice bath ought to make him feel better.

He squeezed past the sink where he crouched down beside the tub and turned the tap to the side, sending a jet of water to come barrelling out of it. He stuck his hand under it and was immediately hit with regret as he pulled it away. “ACK-! FREEZING!” he yelped.

He closed his eyes and began counting in his head. Every second that passed equaled a single tap of his finger. He tapped until he reached 30 when he opened his eyes again and shoved his hand back under. “EEK! EVEN COLDER! WHY WON’T YOU GET WARM! DID THEY FINALLY RUN OUT OF BUDGET TO MAKE YOU WARM FOR ME?!” He slammed the bottom of his fist against the faucet. “GET WARM ALREADY!!”

He waited for another 30 taps before trying again and being met with the same result. Frustrated, he stood up and kicked the side of the tub. “COME ON! YOU’RE GONNA GET WARM EVENTUALLY, RIGHT?”

But as the minutes passed and the temperature stayed the same, his hope began to dwindle. Maybe it just needed a few more minutes? Just need to wait. It’ll fix itself soon. He waited. He waited for longer. The water stayed the same. He was shivering, absolutely freezing. He didn’t know how much longer he could last. He completely lost track of time and had no sense of how long he was in there for. Someone could’ve said he was waiting there for 9 hours and he’d believe them.

“Come on… water… warmer…” he sleeplessly waved his hand in front of the jet again and was met yet again with the freezing water that he was starting to become used to. He was even considering just taking a cold bath. All he wanted right now was to sink into a warm, blue, all consuming embrace, but maybe the world would deny him even that. Not even the respite of a warm bath would be provided to him. “One more chance… Come on! You’ll get warmer, won’t you…?” he said sadly. “One more-”

A knock rang out from behind him. He flipped around to face the door. “HEY! WHO'S THERE!” he asked forcefully.

“It’s me. Open up, Shrimps.” an unrecognized voice replied.

“RODGER? WHAT ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE?! GET AWAY, I’M TRYING TO TAKE A BATH YOU CREEP!”

“What?!” The panel slid open and revealed not Rodger, but Glisten standing behind it. “I don’t sound anything like him! Do I? ”

“H-HEY!” He fearfully fell backwards and gripped the wall with his hands. “DON’T DO THAT! I COULD’VE BEEN NAKED OR SOMETHING, ASSHAT!”

“Well I assumed you would’ve locked the door if you were naked. And you aren’t even naked! Stop getting mad over nothing, Shrimpy-Dimpy.”

Shrimpo instantly felt all of his motivation and energy leave his body. He fell forwards and just barely caught himself from hitting the floor by grabbing the sink. “Please go away.” He rasped.

“Not today!” Glisten said energetically and slipped into the room. He sat on the side of the tub and looked over at Shrimpo who was just barely keeping himself afloat as he held onto the sink. “Roddie told me you were grumpy and to go lookin’ for ya. I think he's in the library or some other room searching but it seems like I was the one who ended up findin’ ya!”

“ Grumpy , huh…?” he painfully growled as he pulled himself to his feet. “Go away.”

“Well funny thing. I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

Shrimpo let out a heavy exhale. “I don’t wanna talk to you.”

Glisten put his hand on the sink beside Shrimpo’s. “You know you’re supposed to put a plug in the bathtub, right?”

“NO! GET YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM ME!” he dropped his arms to his side and balled his fists. “I know that! The water is just cold! It won’t warm up!”

“Hmm…” Glisten stood up, walked over to the other side of the room, and stuck a hand under the faucet. “Hmm… you’re right.”

“BACK OFF! YOU’RE GETTING WAY TOO CLOSE TO ME!!”

“Oh calm down! Are you on your period or something?”

“AM I- HUH!? I AM A MAN, GLISTEN! A MAN!”

Glisten chuckled and sat down on the closed toilet to Shrimpo’s side. “You do realize the blue knob is for cold water, right? Red one is for warm water.”

Shrimpo turned to the bath and noticed something. The blue knob was turned all the way to the side and the red one was completely unmoved. “Oh.” He was more out of it than he thought. Red used to be his favourite colour, but it was slowly becoming blue. He associated the colour blue with good things and in moodiness, he hadn’t even noticed the red knob.

“Does being red come with red colour blindness?” Glisten joked.

He ignored his nonsensical comment and switched off the cold water and turned it to hot water.

“Hey Shrimpo, is something bothering you?”

He ignored him and tested the temperature with his hand. It was already beginning to get warmer; much hotter than it was before, but maybe a little too hot. He turned the blue knob little by little until it reached his ideal temperature.

 “I can tell when somebody is avoiding me, Shrimpo.” he snidely remarked. “You can be open with me. I swear on Rodge-Bodge’s life that I won’t tell anyone.”

Shrimpo stared down at the water, not wanting to look Glisten in the face. “Don’t care.” he crouched down and ran his finger across the surface of the water.

Glisten tapped his foot on the floor. “Shrimpo! You can’t ignore me forever!”

He turned to look at Glisten. “How can I trust someone who puts their own lover's life on the line for something as stupid as that?!”

“Well it's not really that serious.” he rolled his eyes. “Rodg’ isn't actually dying anytime soon. I just want you to trust me.”

“Well I trust you even less now! GO. AWAY! I'M TRYING TO TAKE A BATH!”

“Mind if I join you?” Glisten bent his torso forwards and looked into his bath.

Shrimpo’s eyes widened and he took a few steps back, almost vomiting in revulsion. Even the idea of doing that with Glisten made him sick to his stomach. “YOU CAN JUST HAVE THE BATH IF YOU WANT! I-I DON’T WANNA GET A BATH WITH YOU!”

Glisten giggled and returned to his original position. “Not like that, silly. I wanted to speak to you while you bathe. I think the bath will help you relax!”

“There's nothing to talk ABOUT! I’m not letting you watch me bathe, freak!” He grabbed the bath plug and inserted it into the bottom of the tub. “Unconditional shit like that is always a lie! What do you want from me!?”

Glisten got up and stood against the wall. “Nothing! I find conversations with people I’m not very familiar with very stimulating. I think it would benefit us both and I believe we have much to talk about. I can tell you aren’t feeling too well and I wanna speak! I care about you!”

Shrimpo crossed his arms and looked away. He really just wanted to be left alone, but he knew Glisten probably wouldn’t leave him alone. He's stubborn like that. And he's probably a liar too. “Well still, I’m not taking my clothes off in front of you.” he mumbled

“Are you ashamed of your body, Shrimpo?”

Shrimpo looked at him in surprise. “No…? Where did you get that idea from??”

“I understand if you don’t wanna do that. You shouldn’t feel ashamed of wanting to cover up your body for someone.”

“YEAH, I KNOW.”

“But just know that I’ll never judge you for your weight or your figure. I have issues with my own body and I’ll never shame you or mock you for being ashamed of yours.”

Shrimpo felt like shouting at Glisten and yelling about how he doesn’t care, but he shut up and sat down on the side of the tub, uneasily nodding at Glisten’s words. He really didn’t feel any resentment towards his weight, but he was admittedly a little curious to what Glisten could be talking about.

“I mean-! They aren’t my own issues! It's stuff relating to the show, not my own feelings. As you can see,” Glisten struck a flamboyant pose and smiled at Shrimpo. “I have a very specific figure that I need to keep up.” he sat back down on the toilet. “And if I don’t keep my looks ‘on model’ and up to snuff with the expectations demanded by the show then my time on the show will be reduced. And I like being on TV so I just gotta stick to this body type. I’ve actually been dieting lately because I gained a little too much weight at that sleepover. I ate a few too many bags of candy after everyone left.”

“That sounds stupid! Shelly is FAT, Cosmo is OBESE, Gigi is GETTING FAT, so why can’t YOU be fat?!”

Glisten kicked his legs up and laid them over the side of the tub. “Well…” he paused for a short moment. “They aren’t me.”

“What's that supposed to mean!?”

“Well, they’re favourites, yeah? Cosmo is Sprout’s bestie so he gets some wiggle room there. Plus it makes sense for his design to change a little over the seasons because he's a big foodie. Shelly is a favourite herself, so she can have some wiggle room with her weight too. And Gigi… she's new. She hasn’t even been on the show yet. If she shows up a little overweight then nobody is gonna notice! Plus none of them are even that fat! You’re exaggerating. Don’t make fun of people because of their weight.”

“They’re all overweight! Fat means overweight! Shrimpo is right! You’re wrong! I WIN!!” he spoke angrily.

“You seem to be missing the point of my story.” he sighed. “Have you ever heard of the Lyman theory?”

“No! I have not heard of the ‘lice man theory’ and I DON’T CARE! I’VE SAID THIS SO MANY TIMES! GO! AWAY!”

“I’ve heard of characters just vanishing from shows before with no explanation. There was this particular example I wanted to discuss which was from a comic series.”

He moaned in defeat and rested his head in his hands. “Whatever.” he said, utterly exhausted. Even if he wanted to attack Glisten, he’d probably lose. He could probably overpower him if he wasn’t tired and still mildly sick, but he wasn’t granted that luck. Additionally, a part of him pitied Glisten, and he was a little interested in hearing what he had to say, especially if it related to comics.

“There's this big fat orange cat. His name is Garfield! He’s a cute kitty! He comes from the Garfield comic series and there used to be this character named Lyman who would show up every now and then. One day, however, Lyman disappeared, without a trace. Nobody knows what happened to Lyman, but I think that he was written out of the comic because he served his purpose. He was never as recognizable or marketable as Jon, Odie, or Garfield himself. Characters can and will be forgotten, changed, whatever their author wants.” Glisten averted his gaze from Shrimpo and looked at his water with a sad expression. “I’m afraid that’ll happen to me if I mess up too many times…”

Glisten noticed Shrimpo’s bath was around a third full and flipped off the water before looking back over at Shrimpo, who continued to sit on the side of the tub, looking mildly uncomfortable and tired. “Basically, nobody is gonna notice if Shelly, Cosmo, or anyone else gains any weight. Hell, you or Rodger could gain 20 pounds tomorrow and I doubt anyone on the staff would care. I doubt kids would even care either. Not me though. My character there is all about how beautiful I am, and the creator's vision means I have to stay skinny like this, or else I’ll be prevented from being a part of his vision. I don’t care what you look like under that shirt or dress or whatever of yours. It won’t bother me.”

Shrimpo wasn’t sure what to say, but he empathized with Glisten on some level. A lot of Glisten’s speech passed through his thick skull, but he got the general gist of it. He didn’t know if Glisten made him feel worse or better about himself, but he trusted him a little more now, though he did think it was a little weird how seamlessly Glisten told his story.

“Oh! Hah! Sorry Shrimps! Didn’t mean to scare ya!” He walked over to Shrimpo and tried to give him a little pet across his tail, but the other toon grabbed his hand before he could.

“Yeah… whatever! I still don’t wanna be naked around you either!” he then pushed Glisten’s arm away.

“You can wear boxers or something if that makes you feel better! I have some in my locker if you wanna-”

“I’M NOT BORROWING YOUR STINKY GAY CLOTHES!! I HAVE CLOTHES IN MY LOCKER! WAIT THERE AND DON’T DO ANYTHING FUNNY!” Shrimpo stormed out of the cube and slammed the door shut behind him. Glisten waited and after a few taps, Shrimpo returned, now wearing what appeared to be the same shirt and black shorts that ran down his thigh. “DID YOU MESS WITH MY BATH!?”

Glisten was holding a bottle of some bath product in his hands. “Well I was gonna add some bubbles but-”

“NO! NO BUBBLES! I DON’T WANT ANY BUBBLES!” he said sternly, as if he would die if he even saw a bubble.

“Oh come on! What's a bath without bubbles?” He flicked the lid off and prepared to pour it into the bath.

Shrimpo swatted the bottle out of his hands, causing a small amount of bath soak to spill onto the floor. “NO!”

“ Finnneee. You’re just like Rodger! I don’t think he likes bubbles either. Debbie downers!” Glisten scanned Shrimpo’s new appearance for a second or two and smirked. “Nice outfit by the way. It's very… interesting. Red and black is cool but I don't know about wearing your shirt to the bath.” he sneered.

“Hey, this isn’t the same shirt! It's my backup shirt!”

“Backup shirt, huh?”

“YES. Backup shirt! I keep it in my locker! The shirt from a minute ago is in the washer right now!”

“Mhm. Right!”

“I lost one of my main shirts so that's why you need backup shirts! Finn has so many backup shirts, he told me about them! If you don’t have backup shirts then you’re a weak willed idiot who doesn’t expect failure!”

“Hmph!” he scoffed. “There's no need if you know you’re the best!”

Shrimpo furrowed his brow and stared at Glisten angrily, “No, I’m the best! I’m the best because I can anticipate failure and adapt to it! You can’t! You have no backup shirts!”

“What's the use? Go with the flow! Everything happens for a reason and I’d rather not get in the way of fate.” he said proudly, as if he thought he was above Shrimpo for his belief. “Anyways, we got a little carried away there. Let's get back on track! What's bothering you, Shrimpso?”

Shrimpo stepped over to the tub and gently dipped a foot into the water. “So far so good…” he thought to himself. The temperature was just right. He slowly sank his other foot into the tub before finally sitting down in the shallow tub. He added a little bit more water so that the water fully covered his legs before looking back over at Glisten. “Well… theres something I’d like to know!” He considered adding on ‘If it doesn’t bother you!’ but in all honesty, he didn’t care.

“Go on, Shrimps. I’m all ears!” he assured him.

“How did you and Roger get together? Like how does that stupid gay stuff work!? It’s confusing! Does it just randomly happen one day??”

“Really?” Glisten asked, astonished that Shrimpo would be interested in such a thing. “Is that what's troubling you…? Two gay people?”

“I’ve met so many gay people here, you have no idea! It's confusing! Very much so! I wanna know how that relationship stuff works!” he admitted, trying his best to hide his shame.

“Aw, well I never would’ve expected you to ask such a thing!” Glisten let out a high pitched girlish laugh and Shrimpo groaned. 

“Well me and Rodgie-Boo… it’s not a particularly long story but it’s a story!” Glisten cackled, looking down at Shrimpo for approval to continue. Shrimpo nods and Glisten continues. “Before I begin, let me assure you, this was not an incident of luck. As I tell you the harrowing story of how we met, you may be shocked, you may be horrified, you may even piss yourself! So please, inform me if I make you uncomfortable! Now let me wave you a tale… It was a particularly stormy night! We could hear the lightning cracking down on the surface all the way from down here! I felt as though I was going to die of fear! Then suddenly my knight in shining armour: Rodger! He shows up out of nowhere like the dark shadow wolf he is and he-”

“Stop doing that!!” Shrimpo yelled and flailed his arms. “You’re like Brightney but even worse ! Tell me how it ACTUALLY happened! I don’t want your stupid gay stories!”

Glisten pouted and placed his hands on his hips, “Well actually, I think they’re pretty intelligent gay stories! Lots of sophisticated language in there! I thought you’d enjoy the dramatization.”

“DON’T CARE!” Shrimpo shouted brashly, “I don’t care about what kind of gay wolf roleplay you guys do together! Just tell me how it is! Or else you can leave! Don’t put me to sleep with your crappy bedtime stories!” he sat up slightly more and splashed a bit of water at Glisten, narrowly missing him as he lifted his feet from the ground. “Don’t wave your rainbow flags in my face!!”

“Gah! Okay, fine! Just listen along and enjoy!” Glisten coughed into his arm, closed his eyes, and did some weird waving motion with his hand before clasping them together as if he were praying and opening his eyes again. “It was a late night. Maybe 2:13 AM? I don’t know. But everyone was asleep. I could even hear silly little Finnegan snoring his days away in the room next to me. It was actually kind of cute! If I don’t go to sleep before him then I always end up hearing him. Sometimes he’ll even speak to himself while sleeping. Or at least I assume he’s sleeping.”

Even the mention of his name made an immediate wave of giddiness wash over Shrimpo. He was only just noticing that was happening, but he could remember it’d been happening for a while now. He wanted to think about Finn for a little bit longer and maybe press Glisten on the kind of things he was saying in his sleep, but he was far too tired to, so he just continued to listen to the mirror’s story.

“I had some trouble sleeping that night. It’d been a long day and I’d eaten waaay more than I was supposed to. I’d gone on a food binge and I just started eating everything I could find. Om nom nom!” Glisten did a biting motion with his mouth. “My poor stomach was full of soda and chocolate and boy, it did not feel the best! I could feel the fluids in there sloshing around and turning my stomach into a storm of chemicals, sugars, and other additives; destroying my immune system while I was on the verge of puking it all out onto my beautiful carpeted floor! UGH the thought is just so dreadful! I might die even thinking about it! ‘Ugh… damn it…’ I say to myself, leaning my head over the side of my bed, not too sure if I would regret this by morning or regret this at all. My stomach definitely regretted it and I knew that if I kept this up that my popularity would probably end up feeling some regret too. I must’ve felt a little quirky that night because I somehow dragged myself out of bed and into that hallway, knocking over a few of Dandy’s potted plants, wobbling all throughout that hallway like a scared cat when I finally reached the kitchen! My goal was the library, but this was a good enough stop because I felt like I was ready to puke up my insides into the sink.” Glisten leaned in and began to whisper: “Don’t tell anyone this, but I may have been trying to break into Brightney’s alcohol stash that night!”

Shrimpo turned his head in confusion, “Alcohol stash? I’m not even gonna entertain that idea. We aren’t allowed that sorta stuff in here! Is this another part of your made up BS story?!”

Glisten chuckled mockingly, as if he were somehow trying to prove himself superior to Shrimpo. “Well I have the memory of an elephant, darling. I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t know about it. One day, Sprout asked his handler for some wine for ‘cooking purposes’ and he actually got it for him! Brightney, to say the least, was not a big fan! She hates alcohol with every piece of her body and she didn’t want Sprout prancing around with that purple bottle of grape juice in his mits!” Glisten tee-hee’d and caught his breath before beginning again, “So what does she do? She steals it! She steals it, hides it in one of her drawers, and only tells the other girls about it! This information eventually ends up being passed around to me by another girl who will remain unnamed but to cut a long story short; I wanted to get smashed! Wasted! Bow wow pow! Thought it would numb my currently imploding stomach. Maybe it’d make it worse. I wasn’t too sure. Stomach is sore? Well, let it get worse! See how much I’d care! Heck, maybe I had it coming. What do you think?”

Shrimpo shrugged. “I don’t know!” He said in confusion, occasionally playing with the bubble-less water in his tub and soaking his arms with it. He was trying to pay attention, but Glisten was speaking a little too fast for him to understand.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s already drunk it all by now. Keep this between you and me, but I feel like she just stole that bottle so she could drink it with her girly-girl girl friends. Either that, or she's afraid someones gonna get drunk and trash her library. Anyways, I never ended up getting that alcohol, but what I ended up getting was far better than any liquor!” Glisten said excitedly. “Then that's when it happened! That’s when Rodgie-Poo came strolling in! He was in his little wolf PJ’s, they were so cute! You should’ve seen them!” Glisten squealed a little bit in excitement and clenched his fists.

“I have seen them you idiot!” Shrimpo sent another splash of water in Glisten's direction and hit him on the leg. “He wore them at the sleepover, you-” Shrimpo considered calling Glisten a particularly bad word that he’d been wanting to use for a while, but he wanted to save that for another day. Or maybe that was just an excuse for him to be nicer to Glisten. He couldn’t bring himself to do much of anything today. What he really wanted was to liquify himself and become one with the spa that he felt like he was being robbed of and not have to worry about having to cover up his body for someone like that gold mirror who in all honesty sort of scared him. He might’ve already had a boyfriend, but Shrimpo had a small, nagging fear internally that he’d try and hit on him, or do some other weird stuff if he showed vulnerability around him. Part of him enjoyed the company that came with Glisten’s presence, but a bigger part of him found it incredibly disruptive and irritating. If his gut were in control, he’d clobber Glisten in the face with a brick and watch him shatter to the floor, or maybe even drown him in the tub along with all of his shame, stress, and regrets that he was trying to escape from. He’d much rather have someone else with him right now. Either Finn or Tisha probably would’ve worked well.

Glisten grew agitated and wiped down his leg warmers before going back to his usual pleasant persona. “Haha, oh, so he did! Heh. He wasn’t grey here though like he was then. He was his usual dull colours, not that there's anything wrong with that!” Glisten stopped to giggle before glancing over at Shrimpo, expecting at least a sniffle or anything to indicate his interest in his story, but instead being met with a blank stare from him. “A-Anyways, you know Rodger! Prancing his little back over to me like he has a back problem in his usual cutesy way that only someone as fabulous as Rodgie-Boo can pull off!”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Shrimpo complained under his breath. He already wasn’t enjoying this. All he wanted to hear was how this actually happened, not this stupid background stuff. Maybe Glisten wasn’t the best person to ask about this, although he didn’t know who else he could’ve asked.

“So he rounds the corner and he’s like,” Glisten lowered his voice and began to speak in a crude impression of Rodger’s, “‘Glisten! I didn’t expect to see you here!’” Glisten then returned to his regular speaking voice, “And I’m all like ‘Hun, I’m always here. Waddaya want?’ and Rodger-Dodger, my super star-ger he’s like ‘I’m getting a late night snack.’ So I left him to go do that. After a few, he got his cute little butt out of the cabinet and sat it down next to me with some sweets. And do you wanna know what happened next?”

Shrimpo groaned and slowly nodded, curling up into a ball and wrapping his arms around his legs. “What do you think…”

“We both said ‘Hey’ at the same time!”

Shrimpo growled and gritted his teeth quietly. “So? That’s not very unnatural! That sort of stuff probably happens all the time! It even happened to me once!”

“Oh come on!” He softly elbowed Shrimpo and smiled, “Have a little imagination! Lifes no fun if you’re a realist! Be silly! Rodgie-Podgie is a bit of a realist, but I’m trying to convert him.” Glisten giggled, “Anyways, this is significant because soul mates are often known to copy each other!”

Shrimpo slowly turned to face Glisten and raised an eyebrow, “I can tell when you’re lying, glasshead! I hate lies and I can sniff them out with my gut! It's never been wrong once! And stop comparing me to Rodger! It's creepy!”

Glisten sighed and crossed his arms and legs, “Well maybe it isn’t! It's fun to think about! I could probably tell when you’re lying too!”

“No you can’t! Only I was born with that ability! It's a natural perk that comes with being AWESOME! Don’t test me!”

“Well lets see, did you wash those clothes before hopping in the tub with them?” Glisten asked snidely with a smirk on his face.

Shrimpo’s tail shot upwards. “No! I told you, backup shirt! It was already clean. I don't gotta clean it again if it's ALREADY CLEAN!!”

“Heh, didn’t even need to sniff out your lie.” Glisten sneered. “I think Austen or Hugo might’ve said that one about soulmates but iunno. I’ll need to ask Brightney about it.”

“WHO’S AUSTEN AND HUGO?! Are those your other boyfriends, you polyrhythmic fairy?!” Shrimpo charged with an unparalleled level of seriousness behind his voice.

“You’ve never heard of Austen and Hugo? They’re novelists! Iconic novelists, everyone knows them! We don’t even have any connection to the outside world and I still know about them! Jane Austen? Victor Hugo? Austen wrote Pride & Prejudice, and Hugo wrote Les Misérables! Although I wouldn’t expect someone like you to read real literature like that plus romance and all that other cool fluffy stuff.”

“No! What makes you think I’d even know those guys exist! I don’t read gay, girly slop like that! Novels have too many words and romance is stupid! I hate romance! I don’t know how people like you and Brightney read that crap without instantly getting bored!”

“Everyone likes reading, Shrimpo! Even those superhero comics you read are technically literature! Keep at it! Eventually you’ll move onto some actual literature. There's bound to be some stuff you’d like! Maybe Dumas? Poe? Or Kafka! You’d love Kafka!”

“Shut up! Shut up!” Shrimpo screamed and sat up, “Too many names! Shut up! You’re bothering me! You can Victor Hu-go fuck yourself!”

“Trying to not bother you is a Kafkaesque task. “Besides, I’d rather you fuck me yourself.” Glisten said in a sudden shift to what could be best described as a ‘seductive’ voice, but it didn’t really sound like that. He sounded like he’d just woken up.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” Shrimpo blurted and blushed at Glisten’s sudden request. “I’M NOT GAY AND I DON’T LIKE YOU! I HATE YOU, UGLY GIRLY BOY!” Afraid of Glisten, he splashed him with a tidal wave of water in defense. “GO AWAY!”

“Shrimpo!” Glisten scolded, “I was only joking! I have a boyfriend, you know! And I’d never cheat on him! Especially with someone like you!”

“What is that supposed to mean?!”

“Oh, nothing. We’ve never actually done that sorta stuff together. Our relationship is very wholesome, we just kiss and stuff. Y’know, clinking glass to the best of our ability.” Glisten slowly pushed his hands together and grinned. “Clink!”

“That’s not-! I mean what do you mean with someone like me! What does that mean, huh!?” Shrimpo said as if he were accusing Glisten of a murder.

“Nothing! I don’t think you’re unattractive. You’re actually pretty cute! Especially when you’re flustered, you know!” Glisten giggled.

Shrimpo blushed once again and furrowed his brow, “Is that supposed to be an insult?!”

Glisten shrugged, “In what world is me calling you cute supposed to be an insult? It’s not like I’m calling you ugly or insulting your intelligence.””

“Because I’m not cute!” he angrily pointed a finger at Glisten, “I’m Shrimpo! Shrimpo is strong and awesome, not cute! Stop trying to seduce me, I already told you I’m not gay!”

“Hey let's calm down here, I’m not tryna flirt with cha.” Glisten reached out and pet Shrimpo on the head, “You can call someone cute and not be attracted to them. People call dogs cute all the time and I don’t see anyone going on dates with them.” 

“...So you think I’m… cute?!” Shrimpo asked, somewhat intrigued by the prospect of anyone being attracted to him.

“Mhm!” he smiled, “Sorta! I love angry little kitties and you remind me of those in a weird way.”

Shrimpo huffed and crossed his arms. “I think you need a colonoscopy because you are so full of shit!” 

“Mleh. Whatevs, cutie.” Glisten teased. “I’d never date you though. You aren’t my type and I already have a boyfriend.”

“Well I think you’d look pretty cute when I cave your head in over the sink and leave your body to be discovered by your stupid detective boyfriend and you’ll be DEAD!” he said in an unusually serious voice compared to how he would usually speak.

“That's… wow. Geez, Shrimpripper. I know you don’t mean it but that's pretty dark!” Glisten chuckled nervously and slid a few inches away from Shrimpo, barely hanging onto the edge of the toilet seat.

“I do mean it, snowflake! Don’t test me!” Shrimpo twisted his body around and placed his hands on the side of the tub.

Glisten softly scooted back over to Shrimpo and placed his hand beside Shrimpo’s, “Did something happen, Shrimps?” Glisten’s scared smile fizzled away and was replaced by a concerned frown. “You’ve been shaking like crazy and you seem a little angrier. I mean you’re usually angry, but I wouldn’t really expect you to say something like this!”

Shrimpo huffed and puffed, ready to pounce at Glisten and attack him for his annoying questions, but he simply heaved a sigh and slumped back against the bathtub. “Nothing happened, shut up! You know nothing about me.” he growled. “I’m just a little cold if anything!”

Glisten bent his body over, stuck his hand into water, and swirled it around in a circle. “Seems pretty warm to me.”

Shrimpo’s body tensed up. “Well I’m hot then!”

“Maybe it's because you’re bathing with your dirty, old clothes on.”

“Do not question ME, bow boy! I’m not letting you make fun of me!”

“I’m not even making fun of you! It’s just kind of unusual to do that. I already told you I don’t mind. I don’t really care.”

“Well I DO care! Now stop questioning me and invading my well earned, well deserved privacy!”

“Even then, I don’t think some hot water is gonna make you emotionally volatile like this. I won’t tell anyone, man. What's up?”

Shrimpo curled back up into a ball and looked down at his feet. Even if Glisten was really getting on his nerves, he knew he was right. He didn’t wanna listen to any of it. He felt like Finn would be disappointed in him right now for getting so upset over this. Shrimpo already had enough disappointment inside himself to last a lifetime, and what didn’t help was that he was still thinking about what happened less than an hour ago. How he made Finn bleed, and having to remember the thing that started this whole messy web of complicated emotional crap. He looked down at his arms, analysing every vein running through his skin. He wanted to go back to just being angry, or at least go back to not feeling this. Anything would’ve been better. He hated these new emotions and how bad they made him feel. He didn’t want to feel what he would begin referring to as ‘Finn sickness’ anymore, so he lowered his hands to his side, balled them up into a fist, and squeezed. He squeezed them as hard as he could, tensing every muscle he could muster until the act became painful for him. He wanted to punch Glisten and wipe whatever pitied face he was making right now right off and replace it with a shattered reflection, but he couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t do that. Why would he even consider doing that? Finn wouldn’t want him to do that. He would never want him to violently lash out at anyone, even if it was Glisten. It was like a switch had just been flipped and he was only now starting to realize the implications of actually doing those things to Glisten, yet he couldn’t stop his brain from thinking about it. He didn’t want to hurt Glisten like that, but an extreme impulse kept demanding him to, and he didn’t know how much longer he could handle it.

“Maybe hurting will make me STOP THINKING LIKE THIS!” he screamed to himself as his hands began to hurt more and more with every passing moment. He shut his eyes. He didn’t need to look. Looking only made the feeling more intense. He didn’t want to see Glisten’s face. He didn’t wanna see anything.

He tried his best to silence those thoughts, but no matter how hard he tried to rack his brain, he could never fully remove them. It kept yelling, shouting, even begging him to shatter Glisten. It wouldn’t even be that hard. He was already getting ideas. He could easily overpower him, even if he was a little sick. Anyone could overpower a spineless nobody like him. It's not like anyone even liked Glisten anyway. Nobody would notice except for Rodger. All it would take is a grip of the neck, a little bit of force, a slam against the sink and, boom; no more Glisten.

“DAMN IT!” he thought. “SHUT UP!”

Shrimpo got an idea. If he just filled his brain with nice things, then maybe he could reduce the chances of him thinking about hurting Glisten. The problem is; there's not a lot of things he liked. He tried to channel whatever he could, and eventually, he thought of a few things he liked. He liked Batman, he liked fish, and of course, he liked Finn. He liked him a lot. He was probably the thing he treasured the most in this world. He liked him more than he could ever like Batman or any of that other stuff. If he liked him any less, he might’ve been able to find a way to explain it.

Still, no matter if he liked Finn more than any mountain of words or stack of books could describe, there was still that guilt; the unimaginable shame he felt every time he thought about Finn in any way that wasn’t 100% platonic. For as long as he lived, he’d never felt any sort of attraction or affection to anything, yet here this guy comes along, this blue, stupid, fish-brained idiot, and suddenly he can’t stop wondering how they would look together on a date. He thought they would look really nice. Finn in his nice pink sweater and himself in his favourite hoodie that Finn got for him. They could talk for hours and at the end maybe they could-

“ACK! STOP IT!” Shrimpo hit himself on the head with his clenched fist. He knew there was no world in which Finn would ever feel the same about him, so he needed to not think about Finn in that light. It would only give him false hope. Finn never showed any signs of interest in anyone either. The only thing he could love were his fish, and Shrimpo wasn’t a fish. He was a crustacean. He didn’t even know if he could breathe underwater like a fish. He knew almost nothing about Shrimps other than the fact that he was one. Maybe he could ask Finn about them if he crossed paths with him again. He knew he loved to talk about fish, and Finn being happy made Shrimpo happy. If it made Finn happy, then Shrimpo would listen to him talk about fishes and all of his other silly passions and his funny dreams for a lifetime. A life like that wouldn’t be so bad. It’d certainly be better than the life he was currently living.

He suddenly remembered the library. It was one of his favourite places to go with him. One of his most treasured memories was with him and Finn in there together. He remembered how Finn carried him like an injured soldier, how he wept as Finn carried him up to his terribly blue room, and how he magically made everything better just by being there. There was nothing even particularly special about his room, but he loved that place. He missed that little shark Finn gave him. He still needed to find him. If I were a Jinks, where would I be?

There was one thing he remembered from the library more than anything else. Something Finn said in those empty hallways when nobody was there to judge them: “One of these days, I promise that you’ll learn to love.”, but it wasn’t this part that hooked his mind the most, it was what he said after: “And I’ll be with you every step of the way!”

“COD DAMN IT!!” Shrimpo cried out loud as he slammed his fist into the side of the tub. “FINN, WHY ARE YOU SUCH A-” he slammed his fist into the tub with increased force, “BITCH! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!” Did he really like him? Was he just playing with his emotions? “WHAT DOES ANY OF IT EVEN MEAN!?”

 It didn’t matter how much Finn would comfort him in the past, all it takes is one screw up, and Finn would hate him forever. He would never speak to him again.

He instantly felt immense regret. He didn’t care if he was just lashing out at himself, he would never say that to him. The thought alone of hurting his best friend in a way like that made him upset in a way he couldn’t describe. But why? Brightney was his friend and there was a small chance he’d say something like that to her, maybe Tisha too, but never Finn. There was no universe where he’d say something like that to Finn and mean it. What made him so different? Is it because he's a boy? Because he was his first friend? Because they were so close? It troubled him to even think about it, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it, about Finn.

“Please lobotomize me.” Shrimpo whimpered, his voice muffled by his legs which his head was pushing against. All of this had passed by his head in just a few seconds. He was thinking too much, and his head began to hurt harder than he could handle.

“Shrimpo!” Glisten yelled in worry and stood up. He reached his hand out to touch Shrimpo but his hand was instantly swatted away.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” Shrimpo shrieked. His voice was already beginning to hurt after yelling so much, and it hurt even more to do it at someone who he was trying to protect, but he felt like he had to. He had to get his message across. He would rip his throat out if it meant he wouldn’t hurt Glisten like that.

Was Glisten even trying to help him at all? Maybe Glisten's ulterior motive here was to get him to freak out at him and tell Finn! He already suspected that Glisten secretly hated him and was trying to see through him, so it wasn’t out of the question, no matter how far-fetched it appeared if an outsider were to hear what he was thinking.

Although Shrimpo hated Glisten’s guts, he had to admit; he was somewhat jealous in a weird way. Jealous in the same way that he was jealous of Cosmo and Sprout He hated being jealous. He looked down at his veins once again, the same veins previously filled with hate now tainted by a little drop of… something else. He still didn’t really know what it was. He didn’t know how he felt about Finn. Maybe the thoughts about kissing him and going on dates with him were impulsive? Like the ones with Glisten. 

He knew he liked him; that much was obvious, but he didn’t know if he liked him. The way that Tisha liked Brightney, how Sprout liked Cosmo, how Glisten liked Rodger, how Gigi liked a person he didn’t particularly care to learn about.

Another thought crept into his mind. What if Finn really hated him all this time? Actually, what if everyone hated him? And this was an elaborate plot to embarrass him in-front of everyone? He didn’t care about being embarrassed, but he cared about his relationship with Finn. If he found out it was all fake then he’d probably die from a broken heart on the spot. 

He would try his best to ignore those thoughts. He trusted Finn not to play that kind of trick on him, but not the others. He wouldn’t doubt the depths of their depravity. “Get it together Shrimpo! You’re losing it again, you idiot!” he thought. “MISS CUDDLING WITH HIM IN THE LIBRARY! WANNA SPEAK TO HIM! NEED TO-!” Shrimpo slammed his head against his legs, “Shut up! You’re being stupid! Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!! Like always! Glisten is gonna see you like this. He’s gonna see you like this and he’s gonna laugh he’s gonna hurt you he’s gonna hurt the people you love and then it's gonna be over and then he’s gonna tell Finn that you-”

But at that moment, in the middle of overthinking, he felt something. Something peculiar. Something strange. He felt more than just the gaze of Glisten lingering over his body. It felt as if there were someone else watching him, and he remembered something else from the library.

Quickly and frantically his eyes bounced around at a breakneck pace, scanning every corner, crevice, and curve of the room, looking for a peephole or maybe even a hidden camera that could be spying on him, but he came up empty handed. 

He knew he wasn’t wrong. Shrimpo is never wrong. Somebody was watching him, and-

That’s when he saw it. He took another look at Glisten and saw something wrong with his face. Not a smudge, crack, or anything wrong with his actual face, but what lived inside it. Something within his reflection.

That wasn’t him. That’s not right at all.

Why? Why is it here now?

He could feel the walls closing in around him. He wanted to look away, but he feared that if he did then the thing inside of Glisten’s reflection would jump out and do god knows what. He could feel pigment in his face slowly drain and felt his blood run cold. It was back, and it was looking right at him. Even through the barrier, he could feel its piercing gaze, as if a million people were breathing right down his neck, stalking, waiting for him to make the first move so they could counter it.

Its mouth was obfuscated by an impossibly black, dark liquid, but he could feel it grinning at him. He could feel it mocking him; looking down on him with every blink of its fiendish, dark red eyes; as if he were only an insect, waiting to be crushed and forgotten about.

“Y’okay over there? Do you still need some time…?” Glisten asked innocently, completely oblivious to the thing staring at Shrimpo, reflected perfectly within his own skin. Or maybe not perfectly at all. That wasn’t Shrimpo after all, but it looked just like him. Just different in a few weird ways. Shrimpo wasn’t sure what he needed to do. Did he need to run? Did he need to hide? Was his brain playing tricks on him? Was he dreaming? Perhaps shattering Glisten’s face would solve the problem, or maybe that's what it wanted him to do. Maybe it was just his brain looking for another excuse to hurt Glisten, but whatever it was; he couldn’t let it win him over.

He looked back down at his arm, his —now bruised— hand and more importantly, his wrist. His friendship bracelet was still pristine, clean and untouched by the horrors of the world. The one he shared with his best friend. In the moment he’d forgotten about it. He thought he took it off when he switched shirts.

Sometimes he’d find himself looking at it whenever he was bored or lonely and read out each letter to himself: ‘F-I-N-N-!” embroidered across the string in a chain of plastic letters. He still had no idea why he was given a bracelet with Finn’s name instead of his own, but right now, he appreciated it more than Sprout and Cosmo could ever imagine. If he could, he’d allow himself to be buried with it. He’d wear it for as long as he lived. 

Breathe in. Breathe out. He would do his best to stay calm for Finn’s sake. “What's not real cannot hurt me…” he whispered to himself. He just had to keep telling himself that. He removed the bracelet from his wrist, cupped it in both of his hands, and hung on for dear life. He couldn’t lose him. Finn would keep him anchored until he finally had the courage to think for himself.

Chapter Text

Finn just left the kitchen after a long session of reading to himself. He was a slow reader and he was proud of it. He felt better than ever, complete with a new strawberry scented bandage on his neck he could conveniently cover with his favourite pink turtleneck sweater. He joyously swung his door open without a care in the world and was greeted by another toon standing at the side of his bed, peering down at his pillows with her arms crossed, lost in thought..

“Tisha! What’s happe-fin?” he said with a smile, walking over to her and placing his book down on his bedside table.

“Oh!” She turned to face him. “Umm- H-Hey, Finn!” Tisha glanced her head over at his book for a moment and gave him a nervous, shaky grin. “What’s up…?”

“Not too much! Not too… much?” Finn tilted his head to the side, “Is any-fin wrong?”

“What?!” she stood up straight in surprise. “How could you tell?”

Finn giggled happily. “I guess it's just something I’m good at knowing! Rodger even said I’d make a great detective one day!”

Tisha took a deep breath and looked Finn in the eyes with a serious expression. She sat down on his bed and gestured for him to do the same. “Finn. I’m gonna need you to explain something for me, okay? Nothing too serious, but I only ask that you be honest with me.”

Not grasping whatever Tisha was getting at, he giddily sat down on his bed and returned her gaze. “Okay! I haven’t told a lie since the day I was born! Reel it in!” 

“First, I’m gonna ask if you can forgive me for just entering your room like this… I haven’t cleaned your place in a while and I felt like I owed it to ya to give your room a good cleaning. I can only hope that you can forgive me.”

“Oh! Whale it's nothing to worry aboat! My room is always open for friends! You’re okay to make yourself at home, Teesh!” He placed his hands by his side and playfully kicked his legs in the air.

Tisha’s serious expression suddenly broke after hearing Finn and the way he’d been presenting himself. He was far too whimsical to maintain whatever look she’d been aiming for and she could barely keep it up, so she shifted her expression to one mimicking Finn’s and smiled back at him. “Heh, that's what Brights calls me so it's sorta weird to hear you call me that.” She clasped her hands together and placed them between her legs.

“Brightneys actually one of my best friends! We play and we read together whenever we can. She talks about you a lot!”

“Really…?” Tisha blushed. “Wow…” The thought made her heart beat a little quicker. "That's flattering..." She subtly averted her eyes from Finn because of how flustered she was.

“Mhm! Now what were you gonna ask me?”

“Haha… Okay! I was cleaning around your place and,” Tisha stood up and waltzed over to Finn’s closet, “I had a look in here, right?” Tisha slowly opened the closet door and looked at Finn, whose bright, cheerful smile had suddenly transformed into a frightened, uneasy stare.

“Tisha…?” Finn asked wearily, his breaths becoming noticeably heavier as Tisha got closer to the closet. “What’re you doing? Haha ?”

“I’m just gonna cut right to the chase.” Tisha prepared herself and reached forwards, past a neatly organized row of Finn’s T-shirts and life vests until she finally pulled out what she’d been looking for amidst the debris. “This! Finn, what is this? If you don’t mind answering.” She turned around and slowly set the object down in front of Finn.

“Tisha..! That…” Finn’s voice cracked. The water inside Finn’s head began to slowly bubble and his cheeks flared up in embarrassment. “I’m sorry for stealing Shrimpo’s shirt! I’m reel-y sorry!” Caught off guard, he began to speak unusually fast like he would shatter if he stopped talking. “Just- I-I-I wanted to do it in the moment and I was gonna give it back to him I promise! But I didn’t think he’d take it back in the state it's in!”

“That’s not what I'm concerned about! What I wanna know,” Tisha picked up the object and presented it to Finn, “is why it’s wrapped around a pillow like this. I’m not mad! And I’m not upset. But this could be a hazard! You know? if-” She paused to evaluate Finn’s reaction. His demeanour had quickly and completely shifted since she started talking and he looked like he was undergoing a severe amount of stress. His breaths were heavier than a building, his entire body was quivering like a washing machine with a brick thrown inside of it, his mouth hung slightly agape with a subtle curve as if he were trying to smile, and his hands were digging into his blanket as if he were squeezing a stress ball like his life depended on it.

“Tisha!” Finn pushed his feet against his mattress and scooted his back up against the wall near the top of his bed, “Don’t be mad! I’ll g-give it back! I’ll tell Shrimpo I’m sorry for stealing his thing!”

“Finn! Calm down! Okay? Lets-!” Finn looked like he was ready to explode into a million tiny shards if he had another milligram of stress onto him. “Is he having a panic attack!?” she asked herself. If Finn panicked then she was gonna inevitably panic. Finn never panics, what was she supposed to do to calm him down? She didn’t know his boundaries, how he acted during one of these, she considered mentioning a friend like Shrimpo or Brightney, but she didn’t wanna risk potentially making this worse for him. “Everything is gonna be fine!” She said hastily, looking around the room for anything she could use to calm him down. “Maybe one of his fish? No… Too risky. Wouldn’t wanna scare the fish. What about one of his dolls? No, not that either!” She didn’t even know what she said to upset him so much. “Is this a touchy subject for him?” she thought. "Or maybe he just doesn't want Shrimpo to know that he stole his clothes..."

She tried to imagine herself in Finn’s shoes. She thought about how she would react if she were in a similar situation with Brightney and how she would try to calm herself down.

“Listen! P-Please don’t tell him!” Finn gathered all of his strength and did his best to take a deep and shaky breath. “I like Shrimpo a lot, okay!” his voice squeaked in an almost shameful manner, “You might think he’s just reel-y angry n’ all but he’s my friend and I wanted to keep his shirt as a trinket or collectible thingy! I don’t have nobody else's shirt! Don’t go looking for them, you won’t find anything! I promise! I’m not a thief, this was a one time thing, I promise! I promise! I’m a good sailor!” Finn paused to gather a couple more panicked breaths, “I-I’m kinda bad at explaining fins, and-” Tisha gently placed her hand on Finn’s shoulder, making him freeze up almost instantly.

“It’s okay. Deep breaths Finn. Deep breaths.” Tisha said in a soft voice, speaking in the kind of tone that a mother would if their child hurt themselves playing with their favourite toy. “Come on! You’ve got this!” His stress was stressing her out, and the last thing she wanted to do was startle Finn even more and make him cry. She didn’t blame him for getting upset, but right now, she wished she never tried to speak to him about this stupid little thing. The curiosity was killing her and she wanted to know if Finn liked Shrimpo the way that Shrimpo liked him. She felt the urge to press him on it, but that could wait until he felt a little better.

“I’m trying! I’m not a thief, I don’t steal things! I just-!”

“And I believe you! Just focus on your breathing! You don’t need to explain yourself anymore!. Tisha gave him a gentle pat on his shoulder. “Here! There's this thing Brights taught me. If you’re really panicked, imagine a feather or any other lightweight object in-front of you.”

Finn nodded, his breaths heavy and uneasy as he made eye contact with Tisha. “Aye aye, matey…!” he replied with uncertain optimism, but optimism nonetheless.

“Now, your breaths keep that feather afloat. Whenever you don’t breathe, it slowly falls to the ground. Your goal is to keep it from hitting the ground until you’re calm again, okay?”

“O-Okay…? I’ll try it out…!” Finn closed his eyes and tried his best to follow Tisha’s instructions. He imagined an empty version of his room with a feather standing in the middle. He took a deep breath and the feather suddenly took flight and flew a few feet upwards. After a few moments, the feather reached its peak and began to slowly fall. Finn repeated this a few times —breathe in, breathe out— until his worries finally began to fade. After a few minutes of repeating this, he finally gained the courage and strength to try talking again.

“Okay… I think I’m okay…” Finn sighed in relief.

Tisha outstretched her arms and gave Finn a welcoming smile, “Do you want a hug?”

“Oh…!” Finn said in surprise, “I’d… I’d love one!” Finn smiled. His back began to hurt after being pushed up against the wall for so long, so he slowly pulled himself over to Tisha, whose legs were dangling off his bed as if she were sitting on a chair. Finn readied his arms for a hug and sank himself into Tisha’s embrace, dissolving his body into the warmness of hers and leaning his head over her shoulder. Tisha was very huggable, he thought. She wasn’t as cuddly or squishy as Shrimpo, but she felt a lot softer somehow. He imagined it was the fact that her clothes were puffy, but he couldn’t deny that her skin was undeniably soft as he felt her arms brush up against his own while her gloved hands delicately sank themselves into the skin of his sweater.

“Wait a minute…” Finn whispered, “You smell like him.” he added, his eyes widening in disbelief.

“Hm? Smell like who?”

“Shrimpo! You smell like him! Actually,” Finn backed himself out of Tisha’s grasp and shoved his face right up against hers, “you smell just like him!” he grinned.

Tisha leapt back in surprise and pushed herself a few inches away from Finn. “Ah! W-Well, I gave him a hug earlier! Just like you! That’s probably why.” she said cheerily. “You must be a great friend if you can identify his smell like that! I don’t even know if I could identify Brightsies scent like that.” She laughed a little before her smile dropped a little and she looked up at Finn apologetically. “Sorry by the way… for that.  You know I'm sort of a clean freak and I didn’t want you to get sick or anything if you’re using that thing as an actual pillow.”

Finn chuckled quietly and gave her a thumbs up. “All good! I forgive you! Thanks for teaching me that little trick. I’ll try to remember it for the future!”

Finn’s eyes suddenly sparked with energy like he’d just remembered something and he stood up from his bed. “Oh yeah! That reminds me!” He reached his hands over and grabbed the object Tisha had pulled out of his closet. It was a large, plain white pillow with one of Shrimpo’s shirts stretched over it to the point of ripping. “I found this on Shrimpo’s floor while he was away somewhere and I didn’t really think he’d notice so I just… reeled it away!” He cackled a little at how stupid he realized he sounded. “I feel a little bad cuz stealing and all that stuff is pretty bad and I’d never usually steal something from anyone, but I wouldn’t mind if Shrimpo took one of my shirts!” Finn gave the pillow a tight hug and laid his head on top of it. “I know it’s unsanitary but I haven't eely… you know… washed this thing since I got it… But not because I’m weird! I’m scared that if I wash it that Shrimpo’s scent is gonna wash away with it! That’s like my favourite part about it!” He gave it another squeeze and let out a sigh of relief. “It reminds me a lot of him… and whenever I can’t sleep or whenever I’m eelin’ bad, I take it out of my closet and I cuddle it until I feel better. It makes me feel like he’s reel-y there with me, but y’know nothing can replace the reel deal…” Finn blushed and glanced back at Tisha.

Tisha tried her best to contain her disgust. She chuckled and gave Finn an awkward smile, trying her best to support him. “Wow, you must really like him, huh?”

“Oh I love him!” he objected. “I love him a lot! I’d even consider him my best friend! He’s one of the most crabulous people I know!” he continued, brimming with passion and excitement. 

“You love him?” she asked curiously.

“Mhm!” he said with a childlike innocence in his voice. “Don’t you have anyone that you love too? Like someone who you really like and would do anything for!”

“Hmmm… yeah! I can think of a few!” Tisha’s brain instantly filled with images and memories of her and Brightney together and nothing but her and Brightney. “Don't worry, I won't make you return that thing to him. I don't think he'd accept it anyway, it's not really in the best condition anymore. And while we’re on the topic, I actually consider him a of mine! So you don’t gotta tell me or anything, I know he’s not just a angry guy.”

“He’s making new friends!?” Finn said, bursting with excitement and spilling a little water onto his bed. You could practically see his eyes sparkling with happiness as he processed her information. “Oh, that makes me so happy!” Tisha’s thoughts about Brightney were cut short as Finn suddenly jumped in for another hug, tightly pressing himself against Tisha and almost lifting her up as he grinned from one side of his bowl to the other. Tisha felt a little startled, but she was happy to receive the spine shattering hug nonetheless. She couldn’t even reciprocate the hug from how tight she herself was being hugged. “Thank you for being his friend!” 

After a moment, Finn released his hold on Tisha and returned to his spot on the bed, leaving her a little dazed as she tried to get a hold of herself.

“I was actually gonna propose to him and ask him to be my best friend a little bit ago, but I never cod around to it.”

“O-Oh?” She blushed and scratched the side of her head, trying to get her mind back onto their conversation. “And how were you gonna do that?”

“I was gonna give him a box with a few silly things and give it to him and ask him to be my BFF. I have it under my bed if you wanna take a look!”

“Oh, sure!” Tisha replied with a tinge of curiosity in her voice.

“Ok, let me just…” Finn hopped off his bed and dropped to his knees before shoving himself under his bed. Tisha coughed into her hand and did her best to avert her gaze. After a few seconds, he came back out with a blue box with a bubble pattern scattered across it. “Here we go!” Finn rose to his feet and set the box on his bed before grabbing the lid and throwing it onto his bed.

Inside the box was a box of Gushers, a large bag of red Takis, a Batman graphic novel, and most notably, a small crochet Shrimp. A small tag hung off the side of the present, with a note written in sparkly blue ink which read:

TO SHRIMPO:

I INVITE YOU TO BE MY B EST FRIEND <3

The “B” in “best friend” appeared to be a little smudged.

“It’s not much but I think it would make him happy! Maybe even happy enough to accept my proposal, haha!”

Tisha took a peep inside the box and thought for a few moments, “Hmm… if you still wanna propose to him then I could  help you find a few more things to throw in!”

Finn’s eyes lit up as if he’d just witnessed a firework blow up in front of his face, “That’d be great! I wanna pack it to the brim with little things. I’m sure he’d love that!” Finn paused and his smile faded slightly, “But it’s so hard to figure out what to get for him!” Finn fell backwards and flopped onto his bed.

“We’ll figure it out! Right?” Tisha said optimistically.

Finn sat up and gave Tisha a hopeful look, “Yeah, you’re right!”

“I really think you gotta wash that thing though… There’s always more shirts to go around and I don’t think it's hygienic to keep that thing laying around unwashed.” 

“Aw! But,” Finn grabbed his custom pillow again and looked longingly at it, “It’s not like this is a deodorant or anything! This can’t be replicated unless it's another one of his shirts!”

“Uhmmm… okay…” Tisha replied, clearly very disgusted. “Whatever makes you happy…? Yeah!” She thought it was gross, but it was also sweet in a weird sort of way. Repulsive, but cute. She gave a little more thought to Finn's relationship with Shrimpo. Thinking about it now, they seemed like they would be great for each other. She would be surprised if they didn’t end up in a romantic relationship at one point or another, even if it were just for a little bit. Maybe she could talk to her bestie about it later. She thought she would enjoy a topic like that. Another thought came to her mind. She was happy to see Finn happy, but at the same time, she felt extremely envious. He was so passionate about another boy who he was just ‘friends’ with. It was actually quite inspiring for her. She just wished that she could receive love like that Finn cast out so effortlessly —platonic or otherwise— from another toon. She was glad Shrimpo had someone like Finn to look after him. "You two would be great partners." she spoke, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"I agree!" He replied sincerely, although somewhat obliviously. "We would be the best of fishing partners! He cod help with the bait, I cod help with the rods, and we would both fish and cook it up afterwards!"

She hadn't even realised what she'd just said until she said it. It just slipped out when it came to her mind. Part of her was embarrassed, but Finn didn't seem to have picked up on the true meaning behind her words, and maybe it was better that way.

“Oh yeah!” Finn spoke as if he’d just struck gold and snapped his fingers. “Have a lark at this!” He pulled the neck of his shirt down to his shoulder, revealing his patched wound to Tisha.

“Oh, geez! Are you okay? What happened there?” She tried to put a hand on the bandage but was gently pushed away by Finn.

“I don’t need any help, I’m great! Here! Have a look!” He gave her a wide smile as if he were presenting a cure for cancer to an audience of millions as he sat down on his bed and slowly peeled the bandage off his skin, revealing the marking of another toon's teeth etched into the skin on his neck. You could tell Finn didn’t dislocate his bones and bite himself because the wound featured the front tooth that Finn lacked. “Whaddaya think! Isn’t that so cool!!”

“C-Cool?! Who bit you!! Oh god, put the bandage back on!” She scrambled and tried to grab the bandage from his hands, but Finn held it high above his head.

“Hey, I’m brine! It's not bleeding anymore so it won’t matter if I take it off for a little!” Finn giggled and looked down at his wound. “It was Shrimpo! He just sorta bit me a few hours ago! It was bleeding pretty badly back then, but now... whale, I’ve never felt betta!"

“Oh you poor thing!” Tisha wiped his wound with a tissue from her pocket. “I’m sorry Shrimpo hurt you like that, even if you feel better now.” She crossed her eyes and looked at Finn with a serious expression. “Do you want me to talk to him about it? I can yell at him if you want me to.”

“What? No! No, Shrimpo is okay! He is very okay!"

“But he bit you! Even if he’s your friend, you gotta admit that's out of line! He could’ve seriously hurt you! You’re lucky if you haven't gotten an infection and that he hasn't ripped out your Jugular by now!”

“Pfft, he would never hurt anyone like that! And by the way, he did seriously hurt me!” he said casually. “I was bleeding everywhere! Bah bah bah! Blue juice everywhere!”

She was taken aback. He didn’t seem particularly hurt or bothered by being bitten. In fact, it was like he was taking pride in it. Tisha didn’t understand. She was about to speak and press him on the topic when Finn interrupted her.

“I said it was awesome! Didn’t I?”

“Yeah but- I thought you were being sarcastic! Finn! What is the meaning of this!” she said with profound suspicion behind her words.

“Well I think it's cool! It's like a cool battle scar! Like, I survived Shrimpo! It’s like walking away from a battle with a whale with a missing leg or something!” he let out a loud cackle, which was not reciprocated by Tisha. “Don’t tell him this, but I think it’s even a little… hmmm… how do I word this…” Finn stopped to think for a few seconds. “Funny maybe…? It's just a silly little thing he does and I don't really mind it! I just wish he’d give me a little more warning before doing it though, heh… If it makes him happy then it makes me happy!”

Tisha vomited a little inside her mouth at Finn’s confession. “ACK, THAT'S SO DISGUSTING!!” she thought to herself. How could someone just allow themselves to be bitten by another toon like that willingly?! Are they not considering how unsanitary that is?! Shrimpo was supposedly his ‘best friend’, but she thought this was stretching the definition a little. “Well… I’m glad that makes you happy…?” She swallowed and awkwardly laughed. “Can we just go and find some gifts for little ol’ Shrimpo? Haha…?”

"Carp! I'd almost forgotten! Silly Finnegan!" he laughed and gave himself a soft knock on the head. "Yeah, of course! I think we should get to that right away!" Finn slapped the bandage back over his neck and threw the lid back on his box.

"What is with these two!?" She screamed to herself. They seemed extremely close, but they didn't seem to be involved with each other other than in a friendly way. She didn't know when Shrimpo started feeling more comfortable around other toons, but what she did know is since he started speaking to Finn, he's been more social than ever. "What did that bowl do to him?!"