Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shrimpo was sitting on Finn’s bed, the fishbowl sitting on the other side, right across him.

Finn was doing his usual stuff, rambling about fish and whatnot, sneaking puns here and there…

It's completely normal, just something they do at times… Casually hang out at each other’s rooms(usually Finn’s) and do whatever they can to spend time with one another. Right now, it was one of the times where Shrimpo just listened to Finn ramble with his usual angry scowl.

Shrimpo was listening, he really was… Watching Finn’s mouth move, that is, but he had his mind in other things right now.

Like how awfully close Finn is holding onto that seal plushie.

It’s been a few days since Finn got him after pleading for so long from the Toon Handlers, they finally caved in and bought one for him at some random toy store. Shrimpo was next to Finn when he got his oh, so fantastic gift, he beamed and had that usual sparkle in his eyes, with his signature crooked smile with a missing tooth.

Now Shrimpo just sat there and watched as his boyfriend kept hugging that… Thing.

He hated it.

He hated that seal plushie so much, it was stupid, it looked dumb… Not to mention that it’s so FAT. He still doesn’t know how Finn feels the slightest bit of affection towards that piece of garbage.

Shrimpo glared at the seal plush and it… Didn’t stare back, in fact, it’s so idiotic it’s just staring into nothingness as Finn holds him close, almost as if it were mocking him.

Shrimpo felt his face heat up in anger. He gritted his teeth and gripped on the sheets to hold himself back. Gosh, he just wanted to riP THAT THING APART TO SHREDS AND PUT IT ON FIR-

“Shrimpo?”

Shrimpo snapped back to reality as he heard that. He looked up, Finn was looking at him with a furrowed brow and a worried expression… Still holding onto that damn plushie of his.

“Are you okay? You sea-m a bit tense…” Finn continued, tilting his head, but not too much so water wouldn’t fall to his bed, he lightly squeezed The Bastard in his arms.

“I’M FINE!!!” Shrimpo shouted and put his arms up… Which made him look even more mad, he’s not really a good liar.

Finn looked even more puzzled. “Are you shore you’re alright? You’ve been staring 'harpoons' at lil’ Barnaby II here…” He asked, genuinely concerned as he loosened his grip on The Thing a little.

“I ALREADY SAID I’M- WAIT, YOU GAVE IT A NAME?!!” Shrimpo tried to brush it off, but got even angrier at how Finn actually named that thing like some sort of pet, a thing he loves. Shrimpo already hates Barnaby Wilikers for spending, quote: ‘too much time on Finn’s head’, but right now, he’s not half bad as ‘Barnaby II’ over here. Shrimpo hated them both, but he hated Barnaby Wilikers less!

Finn averted his gaze. “ Whale , yeah... Sort of. I’m not reel-y good at naming things, so I just named this little guy after my pet-son, Barnaby!” He hugged the little thing and smiled.

Why was Finn so happy because of this?

Shrimpo was the one supposed to be in Finn’s arms right now.

“BARNABY II IS STUPID AND I HATE HIM!!!” Shrimpo started to shake his arms and shut his eyes now, almost as if he were throwing a tantrum. What did the dumb thing have that Shrimpo didn’t?

“Wha?-” Finn’s eyes widened in surprise. “ Cod , Shrimpo… Don’t say that! It’s mean!” He said as he covered The Thing’s ears- which it doesn’t have.

“BUT IT’S TRUE!!! IT LOOKS DUMB!!! I HATE THAT LOOK ON IT’S FACE!!! AND HOW YOU’RE HUGGING IT SO MUCH!!!” Shrimpo shifted closer to Finn and began to poke at The Thing’s face, wondering if he could stab it’s eyes with his bare fingers.

Finn just watched that happen, slightly confused, but he connected the dots in his mind. “Shrimpo, are you jellyfish ?”

“WHAT.” Shrimpo looked at him like he just said the most random thing ever, which he did. “NO!!! I’M A CRUSTACEAN, JELLYFISH ARE CINIDARIANS!!!”

“That’s not what I meant! I mean… Are you jealous?” Finn asked with a smug grin on his face.

Shrimpo’s eyes widened. Quick, change the topic! “THAT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE!!!” Shrimpo screamed on top of his lungs as his face heat up, from anger, of course!

Finn shook his head, slightly amused, it’s not the first time something like this happens. He puts The Thing in his arms next to him and sighed dreamfully. “No need to be so koi about it, Shrimpo… If you wanted to cuddle, you could’ve just asked.” He leaned back a bit and reached out his arms and smiled, like some sort of invitation. “C’mere!”

Shrimpo felt his face heat up even more, gosh, he hated how Finn could see right through him, and he wasn’t even the transparent one in this relationship!

Nevertheless, after a few seconds of hesitation… With a huff, Shrimpo "reluctantly" caved in and plopped onto Finn. The fishbowl chuckled and put a hand on the back of Shrimpo’s head… Tail…? Petting it slow and steady as Shrimpo buried himself on Finn’s chest.

“A bit of a cuddlefish, aren't we? Whale, in your case... A 'cuddlecrustacean'. ” Finn said with a grin, slightly teasing the other, but his cheeks were pretty flushed themselves.

Shrimpo scoffed, his face was probably red as a tomato right now, he’s just glad Finn can’t see it. “SHUT UP. I HATE YOUR PUNS...” He said, although it came out muffled… And he didn’t really mean it.

Finn chuckled. “You shore do… Now, where was I…? Ah! Okay, okay… So, a lot of people think Porifers are plants, but they’re actually animals, besides the lack of locomotion…” He giggled for a second as he squeezed Shrimpo a little. “Anyway…”

Finn kept talking about Porifers and Shrimpo hummed in satisfaction, he slowly turned his head and looked at the seal plushie, which was pushed aside by Finn.

Shrimpo grinned to himself, since he was now in the position of mocking the lifeless stuffed animal. Shrimpo wins!

Chapter Text

“I HATE HOW HOT IT IS!!!”

Shrimpo yelled out to his empty room, which didn’t respond back.

Today is another mundane day in GardenView. The thing is, it’s the middle of summer and the air conditioner that kept the lobby and toon rooms ventilated decided to break for some reason. All toons are suffering because of this. It’s hot, they can’t leave, the repairer will only come Monday…

So, basically, it sucks.

Right now, Shrimpo is on top of his VERY sweaty bed, his oversized shirt was thrown away to some random part of his room, which was also drenched in sweat, he tosses and turns as if it’s going to make it any less worse.

He groaned in annoyance once he realized this won’t do anything (after several minutes). Shrimpo doesn’t want to leave his room, because he’ll have to put some clothes on and look “presentable”, just the thought of it makes him angry, that stupid strawberry doesn’t wear any clothes, neither does that old tv… And you don't see anyone complaining!

Maybe he can just hit the showers? No, scratch that. It’s probably crowded there and he doesn’t feel like leaving his room to see people he hates… He might even wait in line, and Shrimpo HATES waiting!

He was clouded in his thoughts and about to give up until he heard a knock.

Shrimpo turned his head to the door of his room, he should just ignore it-

The knock ing got louder, and faster. Gosh, this was so annoying. He took his pillow and threw it against the door.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!!! I HATE YOU!!!”

He screamed on top of his lungs and felt himself get even hotter due to anger. He really did NOT need this right now.

“Shrimpo! It’s me!”

Shrimpo tilted his head as he heard a familiar, annoying voice. He sat up from the bed and grabbed a baseball bat under it, he hates toons who disrupt his “peace”...

“Remember that one time I said ‘We should dolphin-ately hang out sometime’?” Shrimpo heard some giggling from behind the door as he walked towards it. “ Whale , that time is now! Wanna hang out?”

Oh, wait, it’s Finn, isn’t it?

“FINN?!” Shrimpo asked as he had his hands locked and loaded to hit anyone with his baseball bat, but he needed confirmation.

“Yep! It’s me! Cod you open up?” Finn said as he knocked a bit more.

Ah, great. Shrimpo grumbled in annoyance as he hit his baseball bat again, he was so annoyed he could hit anyone here and there, but Finn did ask him to hang out sometime, with that exact same pun… So he might as well do it before the fishbowl gets even more annoying.

Shrimpo wouldn’t dare to admit it, but he doesn’t completely hate Finn’s company. Besides, they’re alone, most toons are somewhere like in the lobby trying to get some fresh air and failing miserably… Shrimpo isn’t one of those toons, because he’s smarter, yep, staying in his very hot room and completely isolated is a way better option.

The crustacean opens his door slightly and Finn perks up, getting inside without wasting much time. When Finn gets in, Shrimpo closes the door after taking a peek to make sure NO ONE saw that… And no one did, that’s a relief.

As Finn gets inside, he takes a look around before turning back to Shrimpo. “Phew, today shore is hot, alright, bu-” He stares at him for a second, up and down. “... Wh- Where are your clothes?” The fishbowl asks, looking a bit puzzled.

“SOMEWHERE- I DON’T CARE!!! IT’S TOO HOT FOR THIS!!!” Shrimpo says, shaking his arms to let out angry energy, gosh, he hates how much he’s covered in sweat right now.

“Oh, reel-y ? Whale , great! I got a little something for you…” Finn puts a hand inside his head as he searches for something, he sticks his tongue out while looking for it. “Ah, found it!” He smiled as he grabbed a tiny juice box, which was… Very wet. “Here you go!”

Shrimpo didn’t even blink as Finn offered him the juice, he snatched it from his hands, grabbed the straw to make a hole and chugged it down. Finn flinched for a second, but felt pretty amused at Shrimpo’s eagerness, he always does.

The crustacean crushed the box with his hand and threw it in his trash can… He missed. “ARGH, I HATE APPLE JUICE!!”

Finn lightly chuckled and put a hand on the back of his neck. “ Saury , Shrimpo… But you hate all sorts of juice. I just thought apple juice was the one you… Hated least?” He gave him an awkward small smile, hoping he got it right.

Shrimpo slightly widened his eyes in surprise over the fact that Finn noticed such a little thing. “WELL, YOU’RE RIGHT…” He muttered under his breath with his usual angry tone. “BUT I STILL HATE APPLE JUICE!!”

The crustacean heard Finn laugh a little bit more, he was glad Finn came to his aid to stop him from being thirsty, it was only good for a second, it turned bad the moment he realized he was drinking apple juice… Besides, he still feels hot.

“I DEMAND MORE!!! WHAT ELSE DO YOU HAVE, FISHBOY?!!”

Finn looked a bit taken aback. “M-more? Uhh… Gee, I don’t have anything else. Saury , Shrimpo…”

Something snapped inside of Shrimpo, he launched towards Finn and grabbed his arms as he began to shake him. “I DON’T CARE!!!! GO GRAB MORE FOR M-” He cut himself off as he realized something. Finn feels… cold?

“WoAH! Shrimpooo! You promi-sea-d you’d stop doing that!”

“SHUT UP, FINN!!! WHY ARE YOU SO COLD?!!” Shrimpo said as he scooted a bit closer and poked Finn on the arm.

“What? Oh… It’s just the water inside me! I always keep it at a good temperature so Barnaby can feel comfortable!” Finn said with his usual bright smile, putting the fact that Shrimpo shook him again aside.

Shrimpo growled in annoyance, even though Finn knows it’s hot today, he wasn’t affected by it at all! And that STUPID fish toy gets to stay in there and feel really nice, that’s-

Wait.

Shrimpo got an idea. “FINN, DON’T MOVE.”

“Huh? ACK-” Finn was taken aback at Shrimpo grabbing him by the vest and beginning to climb, he felt himself losing balance. “Woooahhhh- Shrimpo! Water you doing?!!”

“I SAID ‘DON’T MOVE’, IDIOT!!! STAY STILL!!” Shrimpo said as he gripped on Finn’s bowl and kept moving up, it was a bit difficult, but he was managing it.

The fishbowl seemed to get the message because he kept still on his two feet, still struggling a bit, but it’s fine because Shrimpo finally made his way to the top and got inside Finn’s bowl.

Finn yelped in surprise as Shrimpo just got inside him as if he were some sort of pool, water fell to the ground and he was still trying to find balance, but the extra weight on his head was not helping. “GAH- Heyyyy…! What was that for?!!” He asked, a bit annoyed due to the sudden intrusion.

Shrimpo felt as if he was in some sort of paradise the second he jumped in, he shuddered in delight and could swear he saw steam getting off his body, he finally cooled off, but snapped back to reality as he heard Finn’s voice. “LEAVE ME BE!!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HOT IT IS RIGHT NOW!!!”

“You could’ve warned me! I’m a little shell-shocked …” Finn said, voice trembling a bit as he finally managed to slightly balance himself, he sighed in relief. “And… Aren’t you crushing Barnaby?”

Shrimpo widened his eyes, oh, he certainly did crush Finn’s precious and totally real pet-son-fish Barnaby Wilikers. “... NO..!! I… DID NOT CRUSH BARNABY!! STOP ASKING QUESTIONS, I HATE QUESTIONS!!!”

Finn let out an exasperated sigh in defeat. Whatever, it’s not like he’ll have to do this again, right?

…

After this particular day, Shrimpo now began to plop inside Finn’s bowl whenever he felt like it, leaving everybody confused, especially Finn, but he got used to it.

Chapter Text

Shrimpo stared at the mess on the floor. Thousands of pieces of shattered glass on the floor, along with water.

How did this happen? Well… Shrimpo and Finn were playing patty cake in Finn’s room, Shrimpo got bored and demanded a wrestling match, Finn accepted, Shrimpo so obviously won. Maybe a little too much.

That’s probably because Finn’s fishbowl for a head broke into millions of tiny pieces.

And Shrimpo has been staring for over 5 minutes.

“...”

He’s not usually this quiet, but he’s still sort of processing what just happened with his pea-sized brain, if he even has a brain, that is. Shrimpo just unintentionally murder a toon, and sadly, it wasn’t Looey. It was Finn, of all people.

“... FINN..?!”

Shrimpo called out to the broken mess on the floor, Barnaby was there as well, the only reason why he wasn’t getting dehydrated right now was because of the tears streaming down his face (even though it’s a plastic toy?)

He took Barnaby and tossed it into a non-sentient aquarium, a big decorated one, presumably for the toy fish. Yeah, since that’s now out of Shrimpo’s problem, he’ll keep staring at Finn’s dead body.

Right, okay, no big deal, Finn is a glass toon, it was bound to happen anyway, not that Shrimpo cares, he’s not even sure why he’s grabbing one of the 50 non-sentient fishbowl in Finn’s room and trying to fit it there again like some sort of puzzle, Shrimpo wasn’t even sure why Finn had such a big collection of objects just like him, it’s sort of creepy.

But that doesn’t matter right now.

Shrimpo spins, tilts, even tries to push it down Finn’s neck.

But the bowl won’t stay.

And Finn keeps being unresponsive.

Shrimpo tries to shove it down again, but nothing happens, just small clinking noises that keep getting more and more aggressive over time.

He gives up, and in a fit of anger, he throws one of Finn’s fishbowls against the wall, he flinched at the familiar sound of glass shattering.

Finn is… Gone.

Like that. No goodbye, no stupid prank just to annoy Shrimpo, no oddly reassuring crustacean and shrimp facts…

Just silence.

And so, Finn’s bedroom echoes with Shrimpo’s footsteps rapidly moving to the edge of the room, there’s a mop there, presumably for Finn to clean up the water that always falls off his head. It’s not a broom, but it’ll do.

Shrimpo aggressively began to clean up the glass shards, he puts them all in a specific spot and tries to find some sort of bag, or anything else to store the glass on. There’s a fishing net on another corner of the room, Shrimpo abruptly grabbed it. Eh, he can work with this, he has to.

He put all the glass shards and Finn’s body in a more gentle, unusual way (for some reason) and stuffed it all in a bag. He held it like Santa Claus, and he hates Santa Claus, he also hates how heavy Finn is, but Shrimpo can’t bring himself to actually throw the dead body in Finn’s trashcan, so he slams the door open, and began to pant as he ran with his little legs to the only place he knows where to fix other toons…

He didn’t even knock as he opened the door, the said human was asleep until Shrimpo barged in. A yelp and a thud was heard as Delilah landed from the couch to the floor.

“OH DAMN- Shrimpo! How many times do I have to tell you to NOT come to my office unannounced?!” Delilah grumbled and began to rub her eyes as she woke up. She was a total mess with dirty ichor on her uniform, her hair all over the place, eyebags…

“I HATE BEING SCOLDED!!! AND… FINN BROKE!!!” Shrimpo’s voice was loud as per usual, and he, of course, slammed the door shut again and handed the bag to Delilah. Delilah sat up with a bit of a puzzled look until the looked inside the many fishnets.

Her eyes widened.

“Shrimpo, did you-”

“I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!!! NOW FIX HIM!!!” Shrimpo demanded to his creator, as far as stomping down on the floor to emphasize his point. Finn needs to be okay, he needs to come back, he needs to have a head once more.

Delilah let out a long, weary sigh and clutched the bridge of her nose. “Alright, alright… Shrimpo, you probably know you’re gonna get put away in the time-out zone again, but I’ll fix your friend for you.” She said as she took the fishnets and put Finn’s lifeless body on her desk.

“HE’S NOT MY FRIEND!!! AND YEAH, YOU BETTER DO THAT!!!” Shrimpo brushed aside the fact that he’ll be put in the time-out zone. He’s pretty damn used to not being able to do anything in Gardenview without being put there anyway… Such a bummer, he can’t even pop Looey whenever he wants to…

Delilah walked out of the main part of her office to go into a tiny room, Shrimpo waited impatiently until the tall woman arrived with a fishbowl clutched safely in her hands. Shrimpo watched as she did her work, even though it was from a very bad point of view, since he’s so short.

The scientist put her gloves on and took a look at the glass shards from Finn’s old head, she managed to take Finn’s eyes and mouths as if they were stickers and just… Glued them to the new fishbowl. She put it back in place where it should be, on top of Finn’s neck, and Shrimpo was almost in awe as he saw that process.

About two seconds later, Finn’s eyes shifted from “X” to his usual, lively eyes. He groaned a bit, and put a hand on the rim of his bowl.

“Ughhh…. My head is ‘krilling’ me….” He complained, and he slowly opened his eyes. He realized that he was way taller than usual, Delilah was right in front of him. He let out a yelp. “ACK! Huh? Where am I..?”

“FINN!!!” Shrimpo called out, trying to get to him, but he’s too short to do so, so he just looks like a tiny child asking for their parent to lift them up.

Finn tilted his head a bit, and he smiled at seeing Shrimpo. “Shrimpo! Buddy! Holy carp, you reel-y knocked me out, huh?” He joked, and he tried to reach out as well, but he was too far away from the ground.

Delilah saw this and sighed, she clutched Finn from under his arms and gently put him down on the floor again.

“Hey-”

Finn was cut off by Shrimpo abruptly pulling him into a hug, his eyes widened, and for once, his mind went blank. Delilah just raised an eyebrow, wondering to herself how long it’ll take until Shrimpo pulls away and pretends that nothing happened.

“HUH?! AH!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!” Shrimpo lightly shoved Finn away even though he was the one to hug him in the first place, Delilah knew it’d happen, she just shook her head. Meanwhile Finn giggled.

“Awww, Shrimpo! Did you miss meeeee?” Finn asked in a singsong tone, Shrimpo shoved his face away and avoided eye contact with him. The fishbowl giggled. “Don’t get all koi on me! I’m okay! Sea?” He poked on his own head as if to prove a point.

Shrimpo didn’t say anything, but inside he felt something other than hate… It was weird, like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders, and not to mention the bubbly feeling inside his stomach. “I HATE THE FACT THAT YOU’RE STILL MAKING STUPID PUNS.” He said, but despite his usual hatred, he wouldn’t dare to look at Finn’s way.

Finn laughed again, and Delilah cleared her throat. “Well, Shrimpo... Since you did toonicide again, you know where you have to go.”

Shrimpo huffed and crossed his arms as he sat in the little time-out jail designed specially for him. He’ll get to stay there for about an hour or two, think about what he’s done, and be free until he attempts murder at another toon again.

It’s not fair at all! Some toons deserve to die! Like Looey, Dandy, Dyle, Sprout-

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard glassy footsteps come closer. It’s Finn, of course it’s Finn. Shrimpo groaned in annoyance.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?!” He demanded, and Finn, as usual, seemed unfazed by his yelling. In fact, Shrimpo swore he could see Finn’s smile grow a bit.

“Just checking in on my best buddy! Gee, I’m just glad you won’t be here for all eel-ternity!” Finn laughed at his own joke, and Shrimpo wanted to break out of the cell.

“JUST SHUT UP!!!” Shrimpo said, and looked the other way. Finn’s laughter died down a bit, and he heard him fiddle with his hands a bit due to the clinking noises.

There was a tiny moment of silence between them, until Finn spoke up.

“... I’m not mad at you. Just so you know.”

Finn said, Shrimpo didn’t respond. So Finn scooted closer to the small jail.

“Do you wanna play again once you’re out?” Finn asked, and that was a question Shrimpo wasn’t actually expecting. Play again? Yeah, sure, they can. But Shrimpo doesn’t want Finn to shatter all over the place again, otherwise… Shrimpo could fall down in the glass because of the wet floor due to Finn’s water.

Yeah, that’s what Shrimpo is worried about, not Finn, nope, not at all.

Shrimpo huffed, then grumbled out a response:

“... YES.”